Matte, Matte!
by Keomi-Sage
Summary: Two and a half years after war, Orihime Inoue does something to change the mundane of her life. Now Ulquiorra must try to adapt to living with Orihime and explore the idea of the Heart. A UlquiorraxOrihime fanfic w/ other pairings. WARNING: light comedy! and heavy fluff!
1. Chapter 1

AN: Hey everyone! I thought of this randomly when I was re-watching Bleach. More accurately when I was watching episodes that had Ulquiorra in them. I really hope this idea hasn't already been written. If it has, please tell me and I wont continue this – however, if you want more chapters, all you have to do it ask! The summer is coming and I'm going to have too much free time on my hands!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach, but if I did I'd do a spin off manga featuring Ulquixhime!

_Matte, Matte! _

She sank down into the old chair, kicking her feet up on the coffee table. Orihime looked up at the chipped white ceiling. The soft sound of her air conditioning cooling her apartment that late summer afternoon buzzed. The sun was setting over the very distant horizon, reminding Orihime that yet another day had passed, and it was time for her to go to sleep.

Closing her eyes, Orihime Inoue considered sleep, but she didn't – for all her tiredness – like the idea of going to sleep in day clothes and without showering first.

She pushed herself from the sinking chair and made her way to the bathroom. Now, accompanying the soft drone of the A.C. through the apartment was the dulled ping of water against smooth skin, and the shower floor. These noises, so mundane and dry, seemed to awaken something within the house. A memory, of someone out of mind, but never forgotten.

It had been 2 and a half years since the last battles were fought in Karakura town. Over the years, all of the battle scars seemed to have healed. Not perfectly or completely, but enough that they didn't draw attention.

The Soul Society had quieted down as well, and pushed the events of Karakura to the back of their consciousnesses.

Orihime had as well. She was 19 years old and a student of T University. She'd gotten in on a full scholarship, even though her grades had suffered a little at first due to the amount of absences she had raked up in her high school days.

She was mush the same, maybe a little wiser, and more serious. But she was still Orihime, the sky princess, alone, and devoid of her prince.

From the bathroom, the showerhead stopped producing little teardrops of H2O, and the woman stepped out of the shower. She walked to her room, mostly nude except for the pale town wrapped about her, trying to keep the heat from the shower from escaping.

Orihime searched her closet for something nice and warm to wear. In her pursuit she saw the white dress, tucked neatly in the back of her small closet. It was a bold reminder, amongst all of her colorful, cheerful clothes. It didn't belong.

Orihime found a pair of pajamas: a cotton shirt and long pajama bottoms, and got dressed slowly, never taking her eyes off of the dress.

She had forgotten just exactly _when_ she had made the decision to keep the garment. When she's folded it up into a square and stuck it in the corner of her closet on top of old shoeboxes to collect dust.

Sitting down on the floor, Orihime pulled the dress from its hiding place, spreading it out on the floor. There were tears and flaws in the once royal and powerful dress. She poked her finger though one of the many imperfections made in the dress. She forgot how that had happened…. Probably when Loly was attacking her. Loly – her old antagonist. _Was she still alive?_ Orihime wondered. She had a sinking suspicion that she wasn't.

Who _was_ left? Now Yammy, or Aaroniero, or Szayel Aporro, or Zommari, or Grimmjow, or Nnoitra, or…

"Oh," she frowned, grapping at the beating thing in her chest. It ached, for some reason.

The lost inhabitances of Hueco Mundo were like the imperfections in her dress.

Without thinking about what she was doing, Orihime called on her powers, whispering the chant "Soten Kisshun" under her breath. The orange barrier pulled over the piece of clothing, healing the bloodied scars, and erasing the filth from the pure white threads.

She watched the dress intensely, letting all of her memories pour into her. She remembered the last day she wore that dress, the symbol of her imprisonment and attachment to Aizen. She remembered the solitude and her tears that fell whenever she was left alone, which was often. And she remembered Ulquiorra Cifer.

Orihime smiled as the last strand of white thread was resurrected and sewn into place.

She relaxed her powers, willing it to recede to her hairpins, but a strange something caught her silvery eyes.

It was a fragment of something, as white as the dress, and perhaps even more so. It lay on top of the dress, so small that Orihime almost hadn't spotted it.

Under the power of Soten Kisshun, it grew into something that looked like skin, and then something that looked like a naked hand, reaching out to the heart it ached to grasp.

At that moment Orihime didn't think about the consequences, she could only see the shocking reality. That she was bringing something, someone, back. As well, she realized that that someone had never left her.

**Yay! So, if you liked this and want more, please say so in a comment! I know, this seemed a little melancholy in tone, but I **_**am**_** capable of happier writing, I'm just not there yet ;) If I continue this, it will probably be like any other Ulqui Revived! fanfic, but I'll try to make it original! No promises that I'll actually succeed, though! Thank you for reading and or reviewing! **

**Sincerely, **

**Keomi-Sage**

**P.S. – those of you who listen to SUBs over DUBs probably have already picked this up and committed it to memory, so you know what "Matte Matte" translates to. It you looked it up in an English dictionary, overcome by your confusion, you probably found a definition like 'dull and flat(regarding paint tones or something like that)' and while that definition of the word is kinda valid because the color pallet of words of which I have chosen for this fic are a little "Matte". However, I am using Matte in the Japanese way. So, "Matte Matte" translates to "Wait wait!" If you review this fic and ask for future chapters preceding this one, the title will make more sense. Thanks again, Keomi. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello! Thanks a billion to you guys who read and support the continuation of this story. Also…. SORRY! I read over the first chapter and saw that I made a few mistakes. I'll edit much more thoroughly from now on! **

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach for many reasons

Orihime sat up straight in her bed. Her long red hair flew around her face, sticking to her forehead that was slick with sweat. Her heart beat a mile a minute in her chest.

"U-Ulquiorra…" she whispered, placing her head in her warm hands. "It… was a dream."

She shook her head, trying to get rid of the excitement that had resonated deep within her because of the dream. Ulquiorra wasn't with her. It was all a dream.

For some reason the thought stung more than any type of physical injury. She really _had_ missed him, her old captor. No, she couldn't think of him like that, because he was more than the scary warden who secured her within Los Noches.

He was a friend, and Orihime's friends were precious to her.

A feeling of deep melancholy settled over the usually cheerful girl. Where had the happy days gone? Sure, all of her friends were off, living their lives, going to far away colleges for sports or other reasons. And Orihime was there in Karakura town. In her same old apartment that she shared with herself. She went to a good university, but no one she knew very well from her high school went there.

She was alone, just like when she was stuck in a pit of solitude within Aizen's grip.

Orihime longed for the company of a familiar face desperately in this new lifestyle she'd adapted.

Mine Hachibana smiled as Orihime walked into the room. The girl greeted her professor, who was quietly reviewing his notes for the class.

"Orihime, good morning. How are you?" Mine asked. Mine was like Orihime's friends from high school, nice but a little eccentric, but never letting on that she had such tendencies.

So naturally, they bonded.

"I'm…" the girl hesitated. Was she okay? "I'm okay, I guess."

"Huh? That's not like you Orihime!" Mine murmured, wrapping an arm around her friend's shoulders. "What's up? Is something wrong?"

Orihime hesitated, wondering if it would be appropriate to tell her friend of only half a year about her dream. Of course, she couldn't tell Mine about the unnatural aspects, like how she was friends with Shinigami and they lived to protect the human race from hollows.

"Well… uh-"

"You can trust me, y'know." Mine reassured her. "Go ahead, before Sensei starts his lecture."

"Well, I had this really weird but really good dream last night. A… a friend from the past came and I was so happy."

"Ah, I see. You miss your friend and are upset that it wasn't real." Mine said, rubbing Orihime's shoulder. "That sucks. I'm sorry."

"Y-yeah."

"What happened to your friend – if you don't mind me asking?" Mine probed. Despite the two girls growing close in the half year they'd known each other, they never talked about either of their past relationships. Mine was curious to know who Orihime used to hang out with in her high school days.

Orihime felt a lump in her throat, and her eyes began to sting. _Why is this happening?_ She thought, touching her throat. Her breath was a little heavier and strained against the sadness welling up from her heart to her throat.

"He… he… passed away."

Mine gazed at Orihime with wide eyes full of pity, surprise, and guilt. Now that the words were out of her friend's mouth, the expression on Orihime's face was blatant.

"Oh my goodness… I'm so sorry Orihime." Mine hugged her friend, willing the girl not to cry.

Their professor stood from his desk, going to the chalkboard. "Attention, everyone. Your exam will be next class. And have your essays ready to hand in."

Orihime sat straight, wiping the not-yet-shed tears from her eyes.

"Orihime…" Mine whispered.

"It's okay, Mine. Thank you for worrying about me but I really want to focus on what Nakamura Sensei has to say"

Mine pulled away, gazing at her friend warily.

"Today's class," Nakamura Sensei started. "Is on the idea of how we pass on after death."

_Are you kidding me?_ Mine thought irritably, annoyed with such a topic when Orihime was still thinking about her friend's death. She glanced over at her friend, but Orhime's bangs shielded her eyes.

"Orihime Inoue," the professor called. "What is your input on the subject? Your honest answer, please."

"Oh," Orihime tapped her pencil to her lips. "_Honestly… _I think that after we die our souls depart from our bodies and we are then transported to another world after shinigami perform a konso on our souls – but if we don't go to the other world that I mentioned before evil spirits can consume us or we'll become evil spirits our self and eventually we may become even more powerful bad spirits and-"

"Ooo_kay_, Miss Inoue," Nakamura interrupted her, "can you summarize all that into a sentence?"

"We either become good spirits or bad spirits." Orihime answered promptly, smiling uneasily at the memory from the old days.

The professor wrote what she said on the board before calling on someone else who gave a less wordy, and less passionate answer.

"Well Orihime, I didn't know you had such deep ideas on the after life." Mine muttered under her breath. At least Orihime's moment of sadness had been forgotten.

"Yeah," Orihime agreed. "You could say that."

The class went on discussing the likeability between two ideas on afterlife. Ironically, Orihime's input was rejected by almost the whole class.

The two friends didn't have all classes together after that, and Orihime's classes ended early while Mine still had one more until they could finally go home, because the friends often hung out after school hours.

Orihime sat under a Sakura tree in the schools back yard. Today was a lot cooler than the day before, the sun shining softly over the beautiful T university campus.

Sighing, the girl closed her eyes and let the calm day sooth her to sleep so that she could avoid thinking about… that….

"_**ORIHIME!"**_

Orihime's eyes shot open, her heart racing incredibly fast from hearing her name screamed. She blinked at the sight above her.

She saw mostly black and white with a blurry splotch of color.

"Onna."

All at once, everything became painfully clear. She could see Mine running towards her, confusion and fear in her eyes.

As well, she could now distinguish that the figure above her was humanistic. He was wearing a white button down that had a familiar smell – it belonged to her brother, she realized belatedly - and black pants. The black and white outfit was the only thing she owned from her brother's clothes that seemed reasonable for such a person. She remembered that detail from her dream, which was surprising, because usually she didn't remember her dreams so clearly.

Orihime's eyes traveled from his attire, looking briefly at the paleness of his neck, and finally to his face.

Ulquiorra gazed down at her, a familiar blank expression on his face. Only then did Orihime realize that he was leaned over her in a slightly compromising way, even though the stoic boy was the antithesis of a debauchee-type.

But that wasn't the point.

"U…. Ulqui…" the tears that had longed to be shed earlier gathered in Orihime's tear ducts.

Mine was confused why Orihime didn't push the guy off of her. And why was the girl crying? And….

Orihime jumped at Ulquiorra, her old captor and her precious friend.

"Ulquiorra!" the girl cried, hugging the ex-espada tightly. Her tears soaked into his shirt.

"Why are you crying again?" Ulquiorra asked, but instead of shoving her away, he hesitantly let his hands drop down on her back, as a comforting gesture.

"B-because I thought you were gone, Ulquiorra."

"You thought wrong."

**Honesty I'm a little upset with this chapter. I wrote the better first draft on paper (the first chapter was written out on paper too before being typed), but then I realized the way I wrote it would make it difficult for me to get a story out of it, and sadly it wasn't a good chapter for the pace of the story. So it was taken out. I was going to write a new chapter 2 much earlier in the week, but all of my teachers (including my tutor) decided to give me a butt-load of homework and stuff to do. I had deadlines for projects and Matte Matte! became the farthest thing from my mind. Because I knew I have all of you valiant supporters of this story, it occurred to me that I needed to churn a chapter out to proceed the first one, so I wrote this one at a very **_**tender**_** hour on a Saturday. The result is that the story isn't as nice as the first chapter. But let me clarify something (in my defense). "**_**Tender**_** Hour" is 1 O'clock in the morning. At least you know I was dedicated. Also, I realize that Orihime's comic funniness kept popping into my head during that tender hour, so the chapter has an underline layer of funny that I actually **_**hope**_** you don't pick up. **

**Anywho, thank you again for reviewing and asking for the continuation. See ya next chapter. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3! Yay! **

**To: Grimm-Inuoka004 – I almost had a heart attack when I read that you didn't like the cliffhanger. Sorry I was really tired when I wrote it and I agree that the ending didn't have to be so cliffy, but I was out of brain juice. For you I'll try to limit the cliff hangers – sorry about that :) To ulquihime7980: oh no, you found the humor. But I'm glad you got a laugh.**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach

When Mine's third class of the day let out, she wasn't expecting Orihime Inoue to be there with Ulquiorra standing quietly beside her.

"O-Orihime!" Mine glanced between the two of them. A few students glanced their way, surprised by the sight of the strange boy with Orihime.

"I need your help Mine!" Orihime exclaimed. The redhead grasped Mine's hands and gazed at her friend with big, endearing silvery gray eyes. "You don't have a class right now until after lunch, right?"

Mine had a sinking feeling. "Uh… yeah."

Orihime's eyes brightened and her lips stretched out into a hopeful smile. "Then can you take care of Ulquiorra for me, please?"

"WHAT?"

Ulquiorra remained quiet and emotionless, even though Mine could have sworn she saw an annoyed look pass over his features.

"Can't you take him with you into class?" Mine asked.

"I have a test right now. Visitors aren't allowed during tests." Orihime frowned a little. "Please, Mine? _Please!_?"

The other girl bit her lip nervously. It wasn't that she didn't like Ulquiorra. She just didn't get the best first impression of him when she saw him hovered over her friend's unconscious body. Not that he had meant anything bad by it.

"Uh, okay, I guess," Mine glanced over at Ulquiorra, but his attention was turned solely on Orihime.

"Alright!" the red head cheered. "I'll see you in 2 hours after the test. Wish me good luck!"

Mine and Ulquiorra watched as the peppy girl skipped overzealously down the hall to her next class.

"Um… okay, shall we go to the cafeteria then?" Mine asked, turning to Ulquiorra.

Something was different.

Even though he usually wore a blank, empty expression, Ulquiorra's features had slipped from bored to gloomy and angry.

Mine shivered a little bit at the new vibe radiating from the boy. _Orihime's cheerful aura must have covered up his gloomy one,_ she thought.

"I don't care where we go," Ulquiorra murmured. His body language was clearly waiting for Mine to start walking, so she headed to the cafeteria with the ex-espada in tow.

Ulquiorra walked not quite at her side, but behind her, as if he was a prisoner being dragged along by the one who'd captured him. A few people stared as the pair walked into the lunchroom, which was mostly empty except for one or two tables.

"You stay here," Mine told Ulquiorra after she found them a table. "I'm going to get something to eat."

She turned before realizing something belatedly. "Uh, do you want anything?"

"No, I don't." Ulquiorra said, even though he hadn't eaten anything all day. He was determined only to eat Orihime's cooking, even though it sat awkwardly in his stomach, as if it didn't belong there.

Ulquiorra waited until the girl was gone before diving into the questions inside of his mind. What was he now? He had been resurrected when he was in the second release of his zanpakuto, but soon after the rebirth it faded away and he was back in his espada clothes. The hollow mask had disintegrated, and the tear marks on his face faded away with the passing of the night.

So was he a hollow without a mask? His hollow hole was still there, a reminder that his heart lived elsewhere besides in his chest.

Or was he something closer to a shinigami?

Ulquiorra cringed at the thought.

Mine came back with a disgusting looking thing in a cup, a little plastic spoon sticking out.

"What's that?" Ulquiorra asked.

Mine gazed at Ulquiorra for a moment, trying to judge whether or not the boy was seriously asking her what was in the cup. "It's yogurt." She said, lifting the spoon out of the cup to show him the spoonful of pink strawberry yogurt.

Ulquiorra made a face, but it was so slight that she almost didn't catch it.

_So he_ is _capable of showing emotions_, she thought, very much so amused.

"It's not bad," she assured him, pointing the spoon at him. "Want to try some."

"No," he said, inching away from the dairy product.

Mine chuckled, and turned the spoon back around and into her mouth. "Mmm, yummy," she said, smiling a tiny smile. "So, how did you meet Orihime, really?"

Ulquiorra didn't hesitate. "I met the woman in Karakura town when I was doing a job for my superior."

"So you work, huh? What's your profession?" Mine asked, waving the spoon around. "Architecture, office worker, law enforcer, art?"

"None of those." Ulquiorra said. As if he would waste his time on those demeaning jobs.

"So? What was it?"

"Caretaking." Ulquiorra said quickly.

"So you work with the elderly," Mine said, her eyebrows rising in surprise and respect.

"No."

"Huh? Children?"

"No."

"The mentally unstable?"

Ulquiorra thought of his assignment while taking care of Orihime all those years ago. He _was_ in charge of her health as well as her mental attachments to Aizen, so….

"Yes."

"That's cool. Where do you work?" Mine asked.

"Los No-" Ulquiorra stopped himself a little too late, cursing his rapid tongue internally.

"Losno?"

"No…"

Mine chuckled. "Okay. So, Ulquiorra. What's your relationship with Orihime? You two seem really close."

They seemed close? He hadn't made that realization yet.

"The onna and I are acquaintances." He said, nothing more, nothing less.

"Just acquaintances? Wow, Ulquiorra. I would have guessed you two to be long lost lovers."

Long. Lost. Lovers. The words sank in and Ulquiorra felt a type of unsettling feeling in his stomach, like after he'd woken up that morning and found Orihime walking around in her bath towel after her morning shower.

"We aren't." he didn't even convince himself.

"Ah," Mine smiled behind her folded hands. Her yogurt was forgotten. It was so much more fun to talk to the guy than she'd originally thought.

Remember when I said this girl was eccentric?

M!M!

"Did you have a fun time with Mine, Ulquiorra?" Orihime asked as they walked through the door of Orihime's apartment.

Ulquiorra didn't say anything, but watched the woman as she flopped down on the couch that was supposed to be Ulquiorra's bed, and wrapped her arms around the pillow that was supposed to be his pillow.

They'd just come back from the convenience store where they bought prepackaged rice balls to eat on the way home. It got dark soon and as the sun set, Orihime's lids grew heavier until she was shaky on her feet.

Thus the reason she took over Ulquiorra's assigned sleeping area.

"Onna."

"…."

"Onna."

"…."

Ulquiorra sighed and sat by Orihime's feet on one end of the couch. He gazed at her face, admiring it in the low light.

"Onna…" he murmured. A fluttering sensation filled his chest and his breath became heavy. "Orihime Inoue."

He liked the feel of her name slipping off of his lips.

"Orihime," Ulquiorra murmured as he leaned over her, one hand out to support him on the couch as he leaned in closer to gaze at her sleeping face.

"Orihime," he murmured in a huskier voice than usual. Orihime's nose crinkled a little, and a yawn interrupted her sleep.

Orihime tried to open her eyes a little. She could feel the familiar feel of her lumpy couch under her back. She felt bad for Ulquiorra.

"Hmm," she sighed, rubbing her eyes with a drunken, heavy hand. "Ulquiorra."

"Yes, Onna?"

Orihime pried an eye open, and found her silver eye instantly connected to Ulquiorra's vibrant green ones.

He was too close!

"Oh, uh, um, U-Ulquiorra! Why are you….?" She slipped away from him and sat up on the armrest of the couch.

"This is where you asked me to sleep, is it not?" he asked bluntly.

"Oh, yeah." Orihime got off the couch. "Sorry about that. I'm going to go take a shower 'kay."

Ulquiorra waited until he heard her door close before laying down on the lumpy old couch and pulling the pillow under his head.

"GOODNIGHT ULQUIORRA!" he heard Orihime yell from the next room.

He closed his green eyes and rested his hands over his stomach, letting the tempo of his breath lull him to sleep. He could smell Orihime's sweet, fruity scent on the pillow he laid his head on. Her smiling image filled the expanse of his mind.

"Goodnight, Orihime."

**Was that cliffy? No… I don't think so… maybe… **

**Anywho, this chapter was interesting. Once again I wrote this late in the day and it came out humorous. Weird. Plus, I wrote it three different ways before finally going with this way. I hope you all liked this chapter. If you did or didn't please review. Thank you!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm writing this one early! Wow, good for me. Here's chapter 4 and I hope you enjoy! PS! By the way "M!M!" is the time skip indicator. For the 2****nd**** or 1****st**** chapter I had a line going across the page to indicate a time skip, but it didn't work with Fanfiction :(**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach

The first thing Orihime Inoue saw the next morning was a picture of her and her friends. It was a picture taken of them at a festival. It was of their last big get together before college started and they all flew off to new places.

Rukia and Renji went back to the soul society. Ichigo had contemplated going with them for a time, but in the end decided to follow his path as a human and go to a college outside of Karakura with a great sports team. Uryuu went to study abroad in America to train as a doctor. Tatsuki and Chizuru ended up stuck together for another 4 years when they accidentally applied and got into the same university in Tokyo. And Chad had gone back to Mexico for a time before he would come back and go to college with Orihime.

They all went off on their own adventures…

Orihime smiled, sitting up in her bed and flied to her bathroom to get dressed and ready for the day. _Oh well_ she thought, feeling her old peppiness settle back into place. _I've got my own adventure_!

M!M!

Ulquiorra groaned quietly as he was forced awake, due to the sound of a camera clicking away frantically and the brief shots of white light that bombarded his tired face. Orihime stood beside him, her tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth while she danced around in shaky motions to try to find Ulquiorra's perfect angle.

"What are you doing, Onna?" Ulquiorra asked, sitting up. The blanket he's pulled over himself during the night fell to the ground. Orihime snatched it up and waved it in the air above Ulquiorra's head.

"I'll repeat myself, Onna. What are you doing?"

Orihime stopped moving and the light blanket gradually floated down on Ulquiorra's head.

"I'm taking your picture. The blanket was to create a shadow so I could get a night effect." Orihime giggled, snapping another shot of her groggy roommate.

"Why do you wish to take my picture?" Ulquiorra asked as he brushed the blanket off of his head. He glanced at the clock Orihime had set on the coffee table next to his 'bed'/couch. It was late and he wondered why the woman wasn't in school.

"Because I like taking pictures of my friends. And you're my friend Ulquiorra." Orihime answered honestly. She closed her pretty gray eyes and tilted her head in an endearing way. Due to her closed eyes, she wouldn't be able to see the look of surprise that passed over the stoic male's face.

He was her friend. She'd told him this already, but somehow _now_ the words seemed sweeter. He felt the truth to her words in the actions she took, and it warmed his heart.

Ulquiorra closed his eyes, trying desperately to negate those thoughts swirling through his head. No! Ulquiorra Cifer had no heart to speak of. No heart to warm. No heart to go lub-dub in his chest.

He removed himself from the couch and Orihime's presence. Her eyes shot open and she watched Ulquiorra as he moved to the bathroom.

"Um… Ulqui, are you okay?" she asked, sensing that something was off. Ulquiorra didn't answer her until he had opened the door to the bathroom, the steam from Orihime's shower hitting his face.

"I am perfectly fine, Onna. And don't call me "Ulqui"." He closed the door with a soft thud, leaving the girl to cheerfully look through the pictures by herself.

Orihime found some good ones, where Ulquiorra's eyes looked vibrantly up into the camera lens, instead of off to the side.

She found that besides being half awake, her pale, quiet friend was very photogenic. Hm. Maybe he was a model in a past life?

Orihime sighed, sinking into the couch. _His_ smell mixed with her own drifted up to her nose. Orihime smiled at the smell. It was a good one.

Lying over on her stomach, Orihime grabbed the pillow Ulquiorra had been sleeping on and buried her face into it, sniffing deeply.

"Aaah," she breathed, lying back over onto her back. Orihime gazed up at the chipped old ceiling of her apartment. It was quiet, but not empty as it had been before Ulquiorra came back. It was nice….

Orihime looked at the clock next to the couch. It read 11:13. She wondered what she would eat for lunch. Maybe a nice bento. She wondered what Mine would have, and if maybe they could mix their bento's together to create a new type of food together.

Maybe they would! Once Orihime saw her at lunch. After her 10 O'clock class….

"_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"_

Ulquiorra jumped, in shock from the sudden scream interrupting the quiet. He was just finishing up getting dressed in Sora Inoue's old clothes when he heard it. With his shirt halfway buttoned he ran out of the bathroom and into the living room to the source of the scream.

"ORIHIME!" he shouted when he saw her. The ex-espada scanned the expanse of the apartment, his senses alert. "What happened?" he asked, standing closely to the girl who instinctively grabbed onto him for support. Orihime's knees shook and her head was bowed in fear and grief.

"I… I," she whispered. Ulquiorra sat her down and leaned close to her.

"Yes, Orihime? What is it?" he asked. A strange type of fear settled over his body. He wasn't afraid for himself, but instead he was afraid for her.

"I… I missed…. I'm late… I…" she shivered in grief, and pressed her face into her thin hands.

"Please! Orihime, tell me," Ulquiorra said in a low and urgent voice. The word "please" was foreign on his tongue, and he didn't like using it, but the word did it's magic.

"I'm late for classes. I-I missed 2 classes and it's too late. My perfect attendance is… it's gone." She whispered in a broken voice.

Ulquiorra felt himself cooling down, and a mask slipped over his pale face. Deep with in him rage boiled up.

"I'll have to call in sick, I guess," Orihime murmured. "Oh! But that would be lying!"

He was worried… because of _this_.

"Maybe I could get myself sick…?"

It wasn't a burglar or an offender who threatened the woman's existence.

"W-what do you think, Ulquiorra?"

"You mean to tell me," Ulquiorra said in an empty voice. "That you screamed like that because you are absent to two of your morning classes?"

Orihime nodded. "I hope my sensei's aren't mad."

Ulquiorra wasn't listening at that point, instead he turned away from the woman. And he smiled.

"At least it wasn't anything serious…." He glanced back at her. "I was worried, onna."

Orihime smiled apologetically. "Sorry to worry you, Ulqui."

Ulquiorra went back to the bathroom to finish getting ready. "It's okay, Onna." He sighed. "And don't call me "Ulqui"."

Orihime giggled after Ulquiorra had closed the door. She glanced back at the pictures she still held in her hands. They _were_ good pictures. Maybe she'd have one or two framed. She'd give the rest to Ulquiorra.

"Alright," she stood and went to call in sick. The attendance lady was nice on the phone and wished for the girl to get better. After Orihime hung up, she put her hands on her hips and waited until Ulquiorra came out of the bathroom again. He was properly put together with his eyes bright, clothes straight, and his hair had fallen into place after drying from his shower.

"OOOKAY, Ulquiorra!" Orihime cheered, instantly causing a rise of panic in Ulquiorra.

"What it is, Onna?" he asked warily.

"I'm not going to school today, so let's spend the whole day together!"

**I believe you can all guess what the next chapter will be about. **

**I had free time and was bored, so that's why I wrote this. I'll still try to write up another chapter around the weekend, though, so know now that I have no excuse for not producing a chapter 5 around Saturday or Sunday. I hope you all liked this chapter and look forward to the next one. ALSO! I NEED YOUR OPINION! Should I change this to Romance Comedy or just Romance? I'm not good at comedy, but the way the story has been going it must want to be comedic and fluffy.** **Thanks! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Wow… this was due several days ago! Anyway, sorry for the late-ish chapter. **

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach

"Let's go get some lunch, 'kay," Orihime suggested as the unexpected pair made their way through the street. Many of the high schools had already let out for the summer, and the streets were scattered with happy couples and friends who were glad to stretch their limbs after a year of sitting behind a desk.

Ulquiorra wasn't ignorant to the many sideways glanced they got. Orihime was a bubbly, overzealous young woman. He was a hulking, pale individual with a bored expression on his face.

"After lunch we can go shopping!" Orihime looked into the windows of department stores with clothes for men. "You'll need to get more clothes."

"I don't care for clothes," Ulquiorra told her honestly.

"Hm… but it'll be fun," Orihime reassured him.

She pulled Ulquiorra into a nice looking shop with pastries and other foods behind glass. The small shop smelled like coffee beans and bread.

"What is this place?" Ulquiorra asked as they sat down at a small round table.

"This is a French Bakery. They have a lot of tasty pastries and sandwiches. And coffee too." She drooled (figuratively, I mean) over the food behind the glass. "What are you gonna get, Ulquiorra?"

He glanced over to the food behind the glass. All that he saw was strange blobs of tan… _stuff_. It didn't look particularly tasty, compared to the souls of powerful hollows.

Just then a man who looked a lot like Hanataro came to their table. He grinned with a sleepy smile at Orihime, who returned the smile.

"_Bonjour_," he said in a butchered French accent that sounded more like 'ban-zour'.

"Banzour!" Orihime repeated cheerfully, under the false impression that she'd just learned a new foreign word.

"What can I get for you, mademoiselle?" he asked.

While Orihime ordered Ulquiorra glared at the waiter. He didn't like how the man was practically leering at the woman. Ulquiorra caught Orihime's hand gesturing towards him just in time to compose his face.

"Aw," the Hanataro-esque man said, turning to Ulquiorra. To his surprise, the waiter had the same leering expression when looking at him too. "And what can I get for you today, Monsieur?"

Ulquiorra didn't hesitate, even though he was still oblivious as to what that strange food was.

"I'll have what the Onna's having."

M!M!

"Ulquiorra, are you sure you're alright?" Orihime asked as she picked out another pair of outfits.

The man in question was tired, even though he hadn't performed any tiring activities. And his complexion had turned a tad bit green after eating a replica of Orihime's too sweet meal. After that Ulquiorra decided that he didn't like sweets. Or French food.

"I'm fine Onna," he said in a slightly strained voice.

"Okaaaay," Orihime murmured as she pulled out another outfit. She tried to keep the color pallet she chose for Ulquiorra black and white, because those colors look best on him. "Here," Orihime handed the many outfits to her roommate. "Go try these on."

Orihime waited until Ulquiorra was in the changing rooms to check her most recent emails. They were mostly all from Mine.

She replied to the most recent text, telling Mine what had happened and where she was.

"Onna," Ulquiorra said, coming out of the changing room.

"Did they all fit?" she asked, putting her phone back in her small purse. Ulquiorra, who wore mostly baggy clothes for a good part of his existence, didn't know how to judge that question. So he nodded. "Perfect, let's go to the check out then."

After the check out the two distributed the shopping bags between them and walked to the theater.

"This will be so much fun, Ulquiorra!" Orihime told him. Her silver eyes were filled with excitement.

"Why?" he inquired.

"Because, we're going to see this new movie that came out. The critics said that it's really-" The sound of Orihime's phone going off interrupted her. The girl shuffled with her stuff to look at the text. "Oh, it's from Mine." She murmured.

_**Mine: Wow Orihime! Doesn't that sound like a date to you?**_

0o0…

M!M!

"Why are you on that thing so much?"

Mine glanced up at her boyfriend. Wait, could you call him that? They'd been dating for a while, but were they officially boyfriend and girlfriend now?

"It's just my friend from college." Mine snapped her phone shut and leaned into her boyfriends arm, a playful smile on her face. "Were you feeling ignored?"

"Shut up!"

M!M!

"I still think we should have gone to that restaurant I was talking about," Orihime sighed as they entered her apartment once again.

Ulquiorra said nothing. He didn't trust her food decisions since after the French bakery incident.

Orihime went to her room, calling out _good night_ to Ulquiorra.

The girl took out her phone. There was another message.

_**Mine: At least you had fun. I was out tonight too.**_

Orihime was surprised to hear that.

_**Orihime: What did you do?**_

_**Mine: Well… I went on a date with a friend.**_

_**Orihime: Do I know her?**_

_**Mine: No, you don't know him.**_

_**Orihime: HIM!**_

_**Orihime: Is he your boyfriend?**_

_**Mine: Don't be so surprised!**_

_**Mine: And I'm not sure.**_

_**Orihime: We should plan a double date. You and him and me and Ulqui.**_

_**Mine: So you ARE together.**_

_**Orihime: LOL! No, silly. Ulqui and I are just friends. **_

_**Mine: Sure. And that's a great idea. I'll ask him about it.**_

_**Orihime: Cool. Text ya later. Good night!**_

_**Mine: Night.**_

M!M!

**Wow, this chapter is really short. Sorry about that. I haven't been really motivated to write lately. I'm just going through a writers block phase. Happy belated fathers day, by the way. Next chapter awaits! What type of person is Mine's boyfriend. Will Keomi-Sage pull an unexpected plot twist? Who knows. Anyway, I am going to try to turn this story in a slightly different direction because… well, this chapter was EXTREMELY generic. But I was out of brain juice, so generic-ness ensued. Thank you for reading, please review is you have anything to say, helpful comments are appreciated. **

**Thanks! **


	6. Chapter 6

**WARNING: slight OOC-ness (but with reason)**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach

Mine woke to the smell of burning. Because she'd experienced this before several times, the girl knew to go straight to the kitchen.

Over the passed year she'd invested in a fire extinguisher that sat before the kitchen.

Her boyfriend stood in the middle of the room, glaring at the smoking meal he'd tried – and failed – to create.

Mine squeezed the handle on the extinguisher, accidentally getting the foam on her boyfriend along with the fire.

Mine sighed once the smell of smoke faded. She let the red extinguisher fall where it may, and she fought through the storm of white foam.

"Um… where are you," she asked, looking around blindly through the tunnel of white.

"Aaaah!" arms grabbed her from behind, pulling her against a warm, wide chest.

"Did I scare you, sorry," an amused voice chuckled in her ear. Mine turned around in his arms, trying to see his face. It was still covered with white.

"Your face looks funny," she murmured endearingly, brushing her hand over where his eyes should be so she could look into them.

Mine and her boyfriend had been together for a little over a year, but only spent 6 months out of that year as an actual couple. Their love was the result of sexual tension between two adults.

At first Mine didn't like her boyfriend. He was rash and destructive. Rude and way too loud. Mine had her eccentricities, which made him resent her as well, but in the end they learned to deal with each other.

"So, what do you want to do today?" he asked. The foam was starting to fall, and Mine could see her boyfriend's face through the foam.

"I planned a double date with my friend," Mine told him. She moved away from him to start cleaning up the mess.

"What friend," he asked, taking a towel out of a wooden cabinet.

"Orihime," Mine threw away the burnt remains of her boyfriend's failed creation.

"Oh. That girl again." he shrugged. "Alright. What time?"

Mine found a mop and began cleaning up the foam. "I'm not sure. I'll ask Orihime after we clean this up."

"Orihime… that name…"

"What was that?" Mine asked, glancing up at her boyfriend, who had momentarily stopped trying to clean the foam from the kitchen's countertop.

"The name. It's familiar." He shrugged. "You go call your friend, then come back and help me clean this up. I suggest a lunch date, by the way."

"Alright," Mine left the room to go to her bedroom.

She found her phone half charged on the floor by her clothes. She put her clothes in a hamper before opening her cell and calling her friend.

Orihime answered on the second ring, blessing Mine with her cheerful greeting.

"Hi Orihime," Mine sat back on her bed. "I was wondering around what time you wanted to meet up for our double date? My boyfriend suggested around noon for lunch."

"That's perfect," Orihime's voice said in the speaker. "I'll tell Ulquiorra. Where are we meeting?"

"Let's go to that little park first. You know, the one with the Sakuras. And then we can to that little French shop-"

"Um… I don't think Ulquiorra's stomach is on good terms with French food," Orihime explained.

"Oh," Mine chuckled. "Then how that sushi place near T University?"

"Yeah, that should be good. I'll go tell Ulquiorra to get ready. See you and your boyfriend then."

"See ya."

Mine hung up and went back to her kitchen to finish cleaning up the mess.

M!M!

Ulquiorra and Orihime walked through the Sakura park. The trees had already started to shed their pretty pink flowers, but it was still pretty.

Ulquiorra sighed heavily. Even though Orihime was happy, Ulquiorra couldn't replicate her feelings. As soon as they'd come to the park, the ex-espada had felt something very… unpleasant.

Orihime glanced over to Ulquiorra. He didn't look much different than usual, but the aura the pale man was putting off seemed bothered.

"Ulqui, are you okay?"

Ulquiorra closed his eyes. "Yes, I'm fine onna." His eyebrows twitched belatedly. "I thought I asked you not to call me by that name, Onna."

Orihime blushed. "But… but the name is so cute."

"I do not care, Onna." Ulquiorra told her, almost sounding as frustrated as he felt. Almost.

"But-"

"Ulquiorra!"

The two froze, glancing up at a shockingly unbelievable sight.

Before them was a tall, muscular man who wore a look of surprise and disbelief. He was dressed in human clothes: jeans and a semi-causal button down shirt. His electric blue eyes were wide as he gazed at the sight before him.

"Trash," Ulquiorra said, letting the old taunting name slip unconsciously passed his lips.

Grimmjow's eyes seemed to darken a few shades, and his nose crinkled, as if he smelled something foul. "Ulquiorra!" he growled.

"What are you doing here, Grimmjow?" Ulquiorra asked. Without realizing it, he stepped in front of the woman, falling into his usual attack pose: hands pocketed and his attention unwavering on his enemy.

"I could ask you the same thing," Grimmjow's stance widened as he recognized Ulquiorra's old movements.

Ulquiorra pointed his finger at the blue haired man. "Do not advance me, trash." He collected his spiritual power to his index finger. "Or better yet-"

"_Die!_" Grimmjow shot up from the ground. His hand opened, palm facing Ulquiorra.

"Cero," Ulquiorra said coolly, firing a brilliant aqua cero containing his monstrous spiritual energy.

"CERO!" Grimmjow yelled, shooting off his own destructive power.

Orihime found herself swept off her feet by the gust of power being sent her way. She instinctively activated her Santen Kesshun. An orange shield blocked the power of the cero's from touching her.

Ulquiorra's eyes narrowed as he realized that once again he and his old enemy were locked in a battle between whose cero was more powerful.

But this time, he had Orihime behind him, and Orihime was a power that defeated all others.

Grimmjow was shocked as his cero was overtaken, letting Ulquiorra's spiritual energy overpower him.

The destructive power tore and burnt his human clothes, leaving Grimmjow's arrancar body sore.

He growled, running back to Ulquiorra. His hands momentarily itched to touch his sword, Pantera, but the weapon was long since gone, reverting him to a savage beast with no claws or fangs to dig into his enemy.

He was no better than a shinigami without a sword.

Ulquiorra's body moved quickly to deflect Grimmjow's crushing blow. Even though they were arrancars, their bodies had adapted to the human world. Their power wasn't up to the same caliber as before, so Ulquiorra felt the power behind Grimmjow's punch, which was meant for his face, but instead got the back of his hand.

Ulquiorra kicked out, catching the other arrancar's side. Grimmjow staggered, his feet sliding in the pale grass that inhabited the park.

"I'll ask again," Ulquiorra began, glaring icy daggers at the man before him. "How did you get here? Why are you here?"

Grimmjow gritted his teeth, striking out again at the smaller male. "AND I'LL ASK _YOU_ AGAIN! _Why… are… you… here…?" _he roared in between punches.

The last one he threw almost hit Ulquiorra, but Ulquiorra quickly moved out of the way.

"Trash," Ulquiorra muttered, wishing he could smitethe former Sexta to the ground.

"Bastard!" Grimmjow growled back. "That's it, I-"

"NO GRIMMJOW!"

Grimmjow turned around, his eyes filled with fear for the girl running into the battle zone.

Orihime quickly let the shield drop before the girl could notice. It was Mine, running as fast as she could towards them.

The smaller girl grabbed Grimmjow's muscular arm, planting her feet firmly on the ground.

"Y-you cant!" Mine cried. "That's Orihime's friend. You can't hurt him. He's just a human, like me!"

Grimmjow looked down to the girl, before glancing back up to Ulquiorra, who looked on with disbelief in his green irises.

"You… know the girl?" Ulquiorra pointed to Mine, reluctant confusion in his tone.

"You know my Mine?" Grimmjow fired back. Ulquiorra's jaw dropped (mentally, of course).

"Mine," Orihime whispered, coming to stand next to Ulquiorra. "Your boyfriend is Grimmjow?"

Mine frowned, looking from Grimmjow to Orihime to Ulquiorra to Grimmjow and Orihime again.

"Wait… you all know each other?" she asked. "Wait… what?"

"That," Grimmjow growled, pointing to Ulquiorra. "Is one of the many enemies I had back in Hueco Mundo."

Mine looked at Ulquiorra in disbelief.

"Is that true?" Mine asked. Obviously she'd been filled in on a lot of stuff. The girl turned to Orihime. "What's your role in this, Orihime? You said you and Ulquiorra were friends? Does that mean _you_ were an espada too?"

Orihime shook her head quickly. "I'm just a human," she tried to reassure her friend. "I-"

"Yeah right," Grimmjow cut in. "_Just humans_ aren't able to do the things you can. Your as bad as a shinigami."

"Hey, shinigami aren't bad," Orihime argued. "A lot of them are my friends."

"I _know_!" Grimmjow growled. "And it's because of your _friends_ that I almost died." Grimmjow's eyes cut to Ulquiorra. "But I managed to survive. But you-" he glared at Ulquiorra. "You _died_. Your spiritual pressure has been dead for a while now, you bastard. How are you standing here?"

Mine couldn't believe it. A fragment of her boyfriends' old life was right there, and her best friend, Orihime, had been apart of it. In some ways she felt excited. Now she'd get to look farther into Grimmjow's past. But also she was jealous. Orihime knew more than she did.

"Alright," Mine said, clearing her throat. "Let's start from the beginning." She tried to smile, but it wasn't whole-hearted. "Orihime, Ulquiorra. This is my boyfriend of 6 months, Grimmjow. Grimmjow, this is my friend Orihime. And her strange choice in company, Ulquiorra. Mind filling me in now about how you all know each other – from the beginning?"

**CLIFFHANGER!**

**This chapter was fun and fairly easy to write. Except my computer (who is a very slow, old little computer) was being difficult. Wait! Ooooh the irony. Grimmjow made his cameo in this chapter (really last chap but I didn't reveal who he was) and it's chapter SIX! I didn't plan that I swear! Well, I hope you liked this chapter. Review if you did, review if you didn't. See ya next chapter. Poor Mine. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the late chapter – I got too sick to write and had an overall really busy weekend. I'll try to write 2 chapters this week to make up for it.**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach

Orihime, Mine, Ulquiorra, and Grimmjow ended up going to the sushi shop afterall.

While they ate their sushi, Ulquiorra and Grimmjow continued to glare daggers at each other. Grimmjow's eyes were filled with blind rage. Ulquiorra's eyes were filled with reluctant confusion.

Mine glanced up at Orihime, who despite the tension, was enjoying herself while replacing the content of her sushi with strange things that Mine would rather not know about.

"So," Mine began, sitting back in her seat. Grimmjow stuffed another bite of sushi in his mouth, scowling at the table. "Who would like to tell me how you all know each other?"

Orihime smiled, waving her hand. "I can, Mine." She cleared her throat, opening her mouth to start what most likely would be a long-winded explanation.

"It all started the day that _bastard_ was ranked higher than me!" Grimmjow interrupted. His blue eyes blazed with a raging fire. "I hate him!"

Ulquiorra closed his eyes. "The feeling is mutual, Trash."

Grimmjow stood, his legs bumping into the table. "What did you call me?"

Ulquiorra opened his eyes. The hostile look he gave Grimmjow was like a cat sizing up its opponent before attacking. Grimmjow looked like a cat, too, but he was more of a riled up, bothered one.

"You heard me," Ulquiorra said coolly.

"Would you both stop behaving like children?" Mine asked. She had expected a nice, fun double date. Not this.

"Yeah, really," Orihime added. "You two shouldn't be fighting when you could be friends."

Grimmjow made a choking, laughing sound. "Are you kidding me?" he laughed. "Me and the bastard? Friends?"

"It's incomprehensible." Ulquiorra told Mine.

"It's totally possible!" Mine said, frustrated. The brown haired girl stood up, grabbing Ulquiorra and Grimmjow. "Now, I want you two to go outside and make up! And behave!"

"No!" Grimmjow snapped defiantly.

While the couple argued, Orihime turned to Ulquiorra. Her eyebrows tuned down when she saw the anger in his green eyes.

"Ulquiorra," Orihime looked up at her friend with sad eyes. "For me, could you maybe talk to Grimmjow?"

Ulquiorra frowned. Was he responsible for the womans' sad expression.

Without answering Orihime, Ulquiorra grabbed Grimmjow by the collar of his shirt and slid him out of his seat.

Grimmjow struggled in Ulquiorra's grip all the way out of the door, all the while attracting attentions from the other customers in the shop.

Once they were outside Ulquiorra let go of Grimmjow's shirt.

"What was that for?" Grimmjow growled, standing away from the other man. Ulquiorra didn't answer.

"Listen, I don't like fighting with Mine. In fact we haven't had a single fight since 3 months ago. I don't want your influence to mess things up."

Ulquiorra gazed at the blue haired man for a moment, a question in his mind.

"What do you intend to do with the girl?" Ulquiorra finally asked the question that had lingered on his mind since he heard Grimmjow and Mine declare themselves boyfriend and girlfriend. Grimmjow seemed protective of the brunette, but was it really _love_ that fueled his actions? Because it was Grimmjow, it didn't seem possible.

"What do you mean what am I going to do with her?" Grimmjow spit. "I'm going to be her boyfriend, protect her, love her. It might come as a surprise to you, Ulquiorra, but I'm not unable to feel love."

_But I'm not unable to feel love_… the words seemed to taunt him. Could he feel love? He was emptiness, so could he really overcome the blank whiteness inside of him?

Ulquiorra thought of Orihime. Why? He wasn't sure.

"What do _you_ intend to do with the girl?" Grimmjow asked, glaring at the shorter male. "And how did you come back anyway? You should be dead."

Ulquiorra looked back to where Orihime waited for him. "I thought that would be apparent to you. She brought me back." Somewhere deep inside of Ulquiorra, he smiled. "As for what I will do with the onna, the answer is inconclusive."

M!M!

"So…. Ulquiorra and Grimmjow were enemies in Hueco Mundo and Ulquiorra was the fourth most powerful espada. And then a few years ago Orihime was brought to Hueco Mundo with Ulquiorra where he watched over her. And then her friends, who are shinigami, a quincy, and a human, rescued her, and during one of the battles Grimmjow – you were defeated. And then in another Ulquiorra was killed, and then Grimmjow, you came to the human world after regaining your strength after a year, and then just a few days ago Orihime brought Ulquiorra back with her… powers… what was it called-"

"Soten Kisshun."

"Right, Soten Kisshun… and… here we are."

"That's sounds about right," Orihime giggled.

Grimmjow and Ulquiorra remained quiet, but they weren't glaring at each other.

Mine looked at Grimmjow accusingly. "Why didn't you tell me you knew Orihime?"

"I forgot about her! It was only until I saw her that I actually put two and two together."

Mine shook her head. "Well, this day definitely didn't go as planned." The girl stood up. "Okay, I'm going home now. See you later, Orihime."

"Yeah, sure," Orihime smiled as her friend and Grimmjow left. "Today was interesting, huh, Ulquiorra?" Orihime smiled.

"Yes…" Ulquiorra glanced at Orihime. "Should we go as well?"

Orihime nodded, leading the way out of the sushi shop. They didn't plan on running into Mine and Grimmjow again, but just a little bit away from the sushi shop, Orihime and Ulquiorra saw the two share a kiss.

**Okay, I'll end that there. Sorry again for missing my "deadline". I don't have an actual set in stone deadline. It's more like I have to produce a chapter within the four days revolving around Saturday and Sunday. So if I post a chapter on a Tuesday, I'm a day late. I'm posting this chapter today (Thusday) so I am very late. Sorry about that. Whenever I get to the editing part I always manage to talk myself out of doing it and fall asleep. Ha ha… sigh. See you next chapter (hopefully sometime this week!)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Matte Matte chapter 8!**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach

Fortunately, Orihime finally decided to let Ulquiorra be alone while she went to school.

The ex-espada had literally put his foot down when the redhead said that she refused to leave him alone at home. After a long-winded discussion about the pros and cons of Ulquiorra gaining some independence, Orihime left for her morning classes with the prospect of rushing home as soon as her last classes of the day were over.

Ulquiorra, because he had his newly lengthened leash, decided to leave the woman's small apartment.

Even though Ulquiorra had seen Karakura town before, he never got the time to look around the quiet town for himself.

Within the first hour, he had walked a good part of the town. He made sure to stay clear of the university, lest his luck lead him to run into the "onna" or her friend.

As he walked, Ulquiorra realized that he'd never seen the town when it was quiet before. Each time he'd gone to the town, it had been made into a war zone with deaths and destruction.

When the first hour passed, Ulquiorra decided to turn back and return to Orihime's apartment.

Ulquiorra knew that the woman had a few more classes left after her morning class, but he still wanted to be back with plenty of time before she came home.

"Hello."

Ulquiorra stopped walking and turned to see a strange looking girl with bubblegum pink hair and long fake lashes staring at him.

"Hello," he murmured back.

He noticed that the girl held a few thin, pink books in her petite arms. An open cardboard box with more pink books inside sat behind her feet.

"Would you like to hear about my newest work, "_How to Fall in Love_"?" she asked in a high-pitched voice.

Even though Ulquiorra wanted to get home, the concept of "love" enticed him. As well, he was still painfully confused about its concept and what it had to do with the heart in the hand.

Plus, he heard that human books were a great source of knowledge.

Ulquiorra nodded.

The woman let out an annoying squeal.

"Okay. So, my book covers the adventures of learning to love, getting the person you like to fall for you, and what to do after you are together!" the woman began.

M!M!

"Where's Ulquiorra?" Mine asked around her straw. The friends sat in the university cafeteria, drinking fruit smoothies.

"I left him at home," Orihime grumbled. She'd been worried about Ulquiorra all day.

"That's good. Ulquiorra is perfectly capable of taking care of himself. But I still understand what you mean, Orihime."

Orihime cocked her head to a side. "What do you mean?"

"You know," Mine smiled. "With Grimmjow. He told me the first day I met him just exactly who he was. It was hard not to treat him like a child because he was like a foreigner."

"Yeah," Orihime giggled, imagining her Ulqui as a child. "Now it's my turn to take care of him."

"Hm," Mine's eyes squinted, analyzing her friend carefully. "Maybe it's better that you keep treating him the way you have been."

"Why?"

Mine blushed. "_Well_ – I remember how after I finally acknowledged Grimmjow as another adult, not just some kid, things got… tense between us."

"Oh no. You two got into fights?" Orihime asked. (Misunderstanding)

"N-no. it's not _that_ type of tension. It's…" Mine's voice got quiet. "The sexual kind."

Orihime blushed as well. "But I thought you said that you only liked Grimmjow at first as a child who needed to be taken care of?"

"I did – but I stopped, remember. You can't get attracted to someone when your maternal instincts are working. But after I stopped seeing him as helpless…well…" Mine shrugged.

"I guess that makes sense," Orihime agreed reluctantly.

"Oh, but I doubt it'll be a problem. Ulquiorra probably doesn't see you romantically anyway."

Orihime nodded, even though she felt a little hurt after hearing that.

Suddenly she felt the need to go see a certain ex-espada.

**Ew, short chapter. Sorry I didn't add more. For some reason my hands lost their ability to type. For example, I want to write the word giggle, but I end up spelling "gieelw". I try to fix it and this happens: gi==l=. And then I finally stopped and spelled giggle. Phew. I'm going to try to submit another chapter around Saturday and Sunday. Hope you all enjoy having Grimmjow around. He's one of my favorite espada, so I felt like he should be here too. Thanks for reading. Bye. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Matte Matte Chapter 9! Woo! **

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach

When Orihime arrived home after school, she was pleased to see Ulquiorra at home. Ulquiorra greeted her from where he sat on the couch. Under the seat cushion upon where he sat was a freshly received pink book. He wouldn't let Orihime see it.

Orihime sat on the couch next to him, asking him about his day while she got out her books to do her homework.

Ulquiorra didn't want to lie to her. At the same time he wasn't going to tell her all that happened either.

"My day was fine," he told her. Yes, his day _was_ fine. Along with stimulating and informative.

But he wouldn't tell her that.

Ulquiorra was guilty for being surprised when he saw how studios the woman was; Orihime flew through her assignments in no time, and when she was done she made dinner. Ulquiorra didn't understand her cooking. Nor did he like it, but Orihime was the one who made it, so he put up with the off tastes that raped his taste buds.

After the dishes were washed and put away, Orihime and Ulquiorra went back to the couch to watch TV. Ulquiorra wasn't very interested in the silly human shows Orihime watched. He saw no point to it.

He thought back to the book, tucked under the couch seat.

_Lesson 1: Subtle Hints _

Ulquiorra recalled the first lesson given to him. The author talked in her book about eye contact and playful touches. Basically, he had to get Orihime to start noticing him in a different way than just friends.

When a funny scene played on the television, Orihime turned to Ulquiorra.

"I-it's too hilarious, right Ulquiorra?" she asked, wiping tears from her eyes.

EYE CONTACT!

Ulquiorra gazed into Orihime's silvery eyes and Orihime's smile subsided in her confusion. She always found herself gazing into his piercing green eyes. Even after being revived from his unfortunate death, Ulquiorra's eyes still held the same raging fire. While his face was usually a mask of nothingness, his eyes held and expressed all the emotions that his cold face couldn't.

While Ulquiorra gazed into the others eyes, Orihime wondered, _Why is he glaring at me?_ _Was it something I said?_ _Is he sick?_

The ever caring Orihime placed a tentative hand on Ulquiorra' forehead, under his bangs. "U-Ulquiorra… do you not feel well?" she asked softly. Because she was genuinely concerned, Ulquiorra bottled his annoyance. The eye contact thing had failed.

He lightly brushed Orihime's hand from his forehead, standing up and walking away from the redhead.

"I am fine, Onna," he almost grumbled. "I'm going to shower first."

"Oh, okay. Make sure not to use up all the hot water, 'kay, Ulqui?"

_Lesson 2: Pet Names_

Though he hadn't enjoyed Lesson two, Ulquiorra still decided to put his trust in the book.

"Alright, Onna," he managed. Well, who said he was creative at coming up with nicknames?

Still, he liked "Onna". It was nice and familiar.

Ulquiorra left the room, listening to the sound of Orihime laughing at the people on the TV screen.

That thought swirled in his head: Could he love anyone?

If he were capable of love, he would definitely want his first to be Orihime Inoue. Why?

Because she was the one to open his eyes.

**This chapter is short… ew. I wrote it all out first and it took up 3 pages… too bad. I hope to update sometime during the week. Chapter 10 is already almost half written… except it might even be shorter than this chapter. :(**

**And sorry for the kinda late update. I got a new addition to my life, and lets just say he LOVES to step on my keyboard when I'm typing, so typing is… difficult….**

**Anyway, thanks for reading! Review if you have something to say, and maybe I'll answer your questions back! Like "ulquihime7980"! To answer your question, I'll respond with another question. Have you read Princesskitty1's "Muse"? Yeah, her story kinda inspired this one. There's your answer because if I gave anymore I'd be spoiling the ending to this story!**

**Bye bye!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Welcome to Matte Matte chapter 10! I was going to post this sooner but I had a super stressful and busy week. I'm just glad I was able to squeeze this chapter in. **

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach

_Lesson 3: Spend Time Together _

Ulquiorra stood as she stood, went to the kitchen with her as the redhead made herself a snack for school – because the cafeteria prices were too expensive for her appetite.

Ulquiorra was by her side as she gathered her books and other school supplies, and followed her to the door, sticking close beside her like a lovesick puppy. Unlike a dog, Ulquiorra made sure to stay out of her way, so that she wouldn't be tripping over him and awkwardly needing to ask him to skooch.

"Are you spending the day at home again, Ulqui?" Orihime asked. With one hand on the knob, she turned and faced him, placing her body between the door and the ex-espada. 

While Ulquiorra mentally cringed at the nickname Orihime had started using more leniently, he remembered what the book said. Nicknames were just apart of the process.

"No, Onna." He told her in a firm voice, because failure wasn't an option. "I will be spending the day with you at the university."

Understandably, Orihime was taken aback. Ulquiorra, after all, was… well, Ulquiorra. T-University was a loud, populated setting with pointing fingers and trivial everyday dramas that would only annoy Ulquiorra, rather than interest him.

"Really?" Orihime asked. The man nodded stiffly. "Hmm, sure, I don't see why not. But my professors probably wont let you walk in on the class…."

"That is fine," Ulquiorra said. Even though his time with the woman would be limited because of that little obstacle, Lesson 3 taught him that it was okay not to spend every moment with his heartthrob. Distance worked too, if manipulated wisely.

With that, the pair walked away from the apartment and into the early summer morning.

_Lesson 4: Find Things You Are Both Interested In_

Now that was a toughie….

Ulquiorra had stayed up late at night contemplating the text with questioning eyes. Orihime – being an eccentric, female 19 year old – liked everything from puppies and unicorns to food to her friends. Ulquiorra liked….

Ulquiorra liked meals that didn't make his insides do a one-eighty. He liked peace and quiet. A good book – Orihime had a pretty good collection of reading material that he had dug into for lack of anything better to do. And he liked the nice, quiet moments that he got to spend with his "onna".

However, the book told him that finding out interesting things about his love interest was crucial. It told her that he's curious and actually interested in her.

"Onna," he said, capturing Orihime's attention from the small park they passed on the way to the university.

"Yeah?" Orihime asked, turning her eyes away from a black-haired girl playing soccer who looked familiar, but she was too far away to tell for sure.

"What do you like?"

Orihime, for whatever reason, blushed. Her eyes widened at his question, and a whole-hearted grin spread quickly across her face.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, as if the question had really caught her off guard. "I like a lot of things, Ulqui. I like trying new foods and eating them with friends-" that, he already knew "I like watching TV and singing… karaoke especially. I like my classes at the college. I like my friends… Ichigo," her smile became a little sweeter. "And Rukia, Uryuu, Chad, Yoruichi, Renji… and Mine now, too." She smiled up at the black haired man, capturing his eyes with hers. "And I like you, Ulquiorra."

Because Ulquiorra let his guard down, he wasn't expecting that last part.

"What do you li-" Orihime paused, her eyebrows pushing together when she saw that Ulquiorra had turned his head away, but not in time for her not to see. "Ulqui? Why are you blushing?"

Blushing? Was he blushing? Really? Him?

Ulquiorra ducked his head, letting his black hair block his slightly colored face from the woman's surprised gaze.

"I am not blushing, Onna," he told her coldly.

Orihime giggled quietly, smiling inwardly. "Whatever you say, Ulqui."

They reached the university fairly quickly. It was then that Ulquiorra's senses spiked up.

There it was again!

Ulquiorra walked Orihime to her first class; successfully ignoring all the side glances thrown his way.

"Huh?" an exasperate and loud voice rang once the pair reached the classroom. "You too, Orihime?" it was a girls voice. A classmate of Orihime's.

"What do you mean?" the redhead asked, stopping before the other girl who cut a glance at Ulquiorra – who stood by Orihime like a shadow – suspiciously.

"Mine came around with her boyfriend too!" the girl leaned closely to Orihime, peeking up at Ulquiorra again. "Are they apart of some gang, what with the weird way they look?"

Orihime burst out laughing, which startled her classmate and gained a few confused glances from onlookers.

"U-U-Ulquiorra isn't apart of a gang," Orihime laughed. "But Grimmjow and Ulqui _do_ know each other."

"Oh," the girl looked over at Ulquiorra, who was trying not to scowl at the woman for saying that ridiculous nickname in public. On a side note, at least he knew where his heightened awareness was coming from.

Orihime and her classmate hurried into class before the bell marked them tardy, leaving Ulquiorra to find the blue haired man that he _knew_ was sulking around somewhere on the university campus.

Why, you may ask, is he searching for his former enemy?

_Lesson 5: Make Friends With Her Friends_

**This chapter was fun to write. I tried to write this a little more… I don't know… **_**better**_**, because 1 – I know I can produce good stuff, (I'm just not consistent with it) and 2 – I felt motivated. I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter as much as I did, review and read on, thank you!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Matte Matte Chapter 11! **

**Ulquihime7980: Thank you! Your review for chapter 10 made me rethink the meeting between Grimmjow and Ulquiorra. **

**Guest: don't worry, I will make sure to update at least once a week. And thank you, too :)**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach

Though Ulquiorra was reluctant to spend quality time with his ex-enemy, he was determined to track the blue haired man down and negotiate a type of friendship by any means.

It was all for the experiment he was crafting: to see if loving the woman was possible. The curiosity of how far he could stretch his knew founding of the heart he never knew he had led him to this.

The room he pinpointed the Sexta in was something beyond his previous knowledge: a rather large room – bigger than the woman's apartment, even- furnished with 4-person tables and was absolutely packed with book after book jammed together in high shelves that were stacked about the room. A desk sat near the front door of the strange room, behind it sat an elderly woman with bright red glasses and a name tag that said: Librarian – Kyokou Tsunage.

The woman looked up at Ulquiorra as he walked further into the room. Her eyes were scrutinizing, but she turned her nose back into a novel with a handsome man on the cover who wore nothing but a loincloth and the raven-haired beauty hanging off his muscles.

After a short search, Ulquiorra found Grimmjow.

The blue haired ex-espada was bent back over his chair with his eyes closed in a deep slumber. His booted feet were propped up on the table, which leaned his chair back slightly.

There was an obvious distance being kept between the libraries occupants and the blue haired man.

Ulquiorra walked up to the other man, until he stood by his chair. His green eyes fell to the chairs legs – the back legs were on a slight lean.

And because Ulquiorra would rather not touch the ex-espada, nor would he raise his voice to wake the sleeping man up, Ulquiorra decided to apply just the right amount of pressure to Grimmjow's chair, and with the help of gravity, Grimmjow and his chair leaned back and crashed to the ground.

The black haired man stayed quiet as Grimmjow let out a long string of obscene profanities insulting everything from the chair to the unseen force that brought him to the floor.

When Grimmjow finally got to his feet his bright blue eyes opened wide in shock upon seeing Ulquiorra staring at him patiently.

"What the fuck!" Grimmjow yelled.

"_Sssshhhh!_" the librarian shushed loudly from behind her desk. Grimmjow ducked his head, glaring at Ulquiorra with smoldering hate in his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Grimmjow hissed, gritting his teeth as he raked the fallen chair back up and sat down heavily.

Ulquiorra sat across from the man, tucking himself neatly under the table.

"I am spending the day with the onna," Ulquiorra told him honestly.

"What the hell for?" Grimmjow grumbled, rubbing the back of his head that had hit the library floor rather hard.

Ulquoirra didn't answer that part. Even though Lesson 5 told him to be open to making friends with the friends of his onna's, and to be nice, he was finding it difficult to show all that he hid on his sleeves.

But Lesson 5 stressed the importance of making friends with partners of his love interest's friends. This was because when he confided in the boyfriend or girlfriend, they would be open to telling him all that they knew from talking with their partners. Including whether or not his love interest liked him.

Failure was not an option.

"Grimmjow," Ulquiorra began, though he was tempted to call the other man "trash" from a force of habit. "How did you make friends with Mine?"

Grimmjow was definitely surprised by that question, and the fact that it had come out of Ulquiorra's uncaring and uninterested mouth.

"Well, she saw me when I came to the human world," Grimmjow shrugged, but a sentimental look was brewing in his bright blue orbs. "We weren't friends – or anything close to that – at first. She took care of me, but over a short amount of time-" a smile spread across his face, which would have been creepy from an outsiders perspective, but to Ulquiorra Grimmjow's grin was just weird. The blue haired man had officially and completely blocked out Ulquiorra, and everyone else, for that matter. "I quickly started seeing her differently. Mine is human with no extra spiritual power, or wealth, or beauty, but that doesn't mean she isn't strong. She's stubborn but kind and smart. Smarter than me… I lover her, and…" Grimmjow paused, looking up at Ulquiorra, whom face was blank, but his eyes held both surprise and mild revulsion. Part of Ulquiorra wanted to smack the man before him and demand to know where the old Grimmjow had run off to.

"SHUDDAP!" Grimmjow roared – ah, there he was - and slammed his hands down on the table. "You had better not joke about what I just said to-"

"_SSSSHHHHH!_"

Grimmjow glowered at the table, waiting for the librarian to stop her shushing before speaking again, this time much quieter.

Grimmjow's face had flamed up as brightly as a cherry, and his posture was tense, as if waiting anxiously for Ulquiorra to mock him for falling so hard for a human.

But unknown to Grimmjow, Ulquiorra wouldn't, couldn't mock him. Far from it.

Ulquiorra waited until Grimmjow relaxed again to ask the next questions.

"What do you do when you crave souls?" Ulquiorra asked, because he'd woken up many nights with an empty feeling in his hollow belly, and longed for the familiar taste of a soul.

"You don't," Grimmjow sighed, leaning back in his chair, as if he hadn't learned his lesson about leaning back in chairs already. "If you stay away from the souls it all goes away eventually. Mine helped me figure that out after I tried to eat her soul once." Grimmjow let out a chuckle at the memory.

"What about her. Doesn't your spiritual pressure ever cause her harm?" Ulquiorra asked, because he knew how the Sexta loved to flaunt his spiritual pressure.

"What are you saying?" Grimmjow spoke up again, shooting Ulquiorra an angered look. "Do I look like I can't control my spiritual pressure to you?"

"_Shh!_"

"What? I wasn't even that loud this time!"

"_Sssshhhh!"_

"Nasty old hag."

A romance novel with an attractive man on the cover sailed through the air and clunked Grimmjow on the head.

Ulquiorra remained unflinching as Grimmjow burst a vein, his eyes flickering back to the quiet man across from him. "I blame you for this," he huffed, making sure his voice was quieter.

"Blame me if you must, but there is no proof that I am the cause of _your_ brashness." Ulquiorra told him coolly.

The two carried on a strained, and slightly awkward conversation consisting of Grimmjow's antics, the librarians cross input, and a few of Ulquiorra's comments about how Grimmjow should try to make an effort to keep his voice down, which would make the blue haired man pipe up again. And thus the librarian….

"_SSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHH!_"

It was a vicious cycle. By the end of the hour, Ulquiorra knew that Lesson 5: Make Friends With Her Friends would be a failure. He had tried to make friends – in the way _he_ thought would work, mind you – and failed.

Grimmjow still despised him, Ulquiorra still thought the other man was trash. Nothing changed.

Ulquiorra was slightly discouraged, but not given up yet. After all, Grimmjow was only Mine's boyfriend, thus not a good friend of Orihimes'… but he was still close enough on the friend chain to be useful to Ulquiorra…

Ulquiorra was tempted to rest his head upon the table to give his mind a break. It was all so confusing!

Anyway – and he didn't, by the way – he still had Orihime's other friend, Mine.

Sure, she was stubborn and eccentric at times, but she was a friend.

And failure wasn't an option.

Grimmjow suddenly stood from his chair and made his way to the front of the library next to the librarian's desk.

"Here," he growled, slamming the romance novel that had assaulted his head down on the desk.

Ulquiorra walked after Grimmjow, but not at a speed fast enough to catch up with him. Ulquiorra already knew what was going on. The girls would be out of class soon. Their 2 hour lecture – oh, that sounds painfully boring – was coming to an end.

He found the room soon enough, and there was Grimmjow, already standing and waiting for Mine to come from the room.

There was a group of guys waiting by the door, not as colorful or interesting to look at as Grimmjow or Ulquiorra, though.

The bell for the classes to be over rang through the halls, and instantly the door of Orihime and Mine's room opened.

After a few people had shuffled out of the classroom and the other boyfriends left with their girls, Orhime and Mine walked out laughing.

Grimmjow pulled Mine towards him, kissing her softly on the lips.

Orihime huddled next to Ulquiorra, her silver eyes trained on the kissing couple.

"Aaahh!" Orihime gushed. "That's sooo adorable, don't you think, Ulqui?" she asked, grabbing his arm as if to steady herself.

When Grimmjow and Mine finally broke apart, Orihime quickly looked away to try and hide the fact that she'd been staring.

Mine had another class that she needed to get to, so she and Grimmjow hurried down the hall to get there before the next bell rang.

Ulquiorra noticed belatedly how Mine leaned against the tall man, and how he had one arm around her shoulder. Their gentle touching seemed casual, but caring and loving, too.

Ulquiorra wondered if he and the woman would ever look or act like that.

"Ulqui," Orihime said, grabbing his arm. "Let's go. I want to see Mine to her next class, too."

So the ex-espada and the human girl walked quickly down the hall, arm in arm after the other off pair.

**Oh my goodness, the world is ending! I wrote a decently long chapter for once! Any who, my snide comments aside, I hope you liked this chapter. It was fun to write for Grimmjow – pardon the bad word, it seemed fitting to have it there – and I'm really glad I put him in this story.**

**Read on and Review if you liked this or have anything to say or ask. Thank you! **


	12. Chapter 12

**Matte Matte chapter 12! **

**Lesson 6 Time! What will it be?**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach

Orihime sat up in bed, pushing a few stray hairs from her face, and gazed into the darkness. Her stomach growled when she refused to get up from the warm covers and pillows.

"I know, sorry Mr. Tummy," Orihime yawned, patting her flat stomach lightly before swinging her legs off the bed and onto the cool floor. The alarm clock on her nightstand read "1:23AM". "What do you want so early in the morning, Mr. Tummy?" Orihime asked her growling stomach as she dragged her feet out of the room and to the living room.

She was still too deep in her grogginess to notice at first that the lights were on in the living room, and a black haired figure sat up on the couch, bent slightly over something she couldn't see.

When she did notice, however, she let out a short yelp.

Ulquiorra turned around quickly, his hand quickly moving to close the book he was reading and slip it under his pillow. Orihime rubbed her silvery eyes and walked up to the still awake man.

"U-Ulqui," a yawn broke her sentence. "W-why are you still up?"

Ulquiorra didn't panic. "I couldn't sleep." He answered quickly and surely. Orihime blinked once or twice before the growling of her stomach reminded her of her goal.

"Well, sometimes warm milk helps," Orihime said over her shoulder as she made her way to the small kitchen.

The redhead dug through her kitchen, making toast with whip cream and peanuts for herself, and Ulquiorra a generous cup of warm milk.

She took a bite out of her toast, sedating Mr. Tummy, and served the cup to her roommate.

"Here. Be careful, though," Orihime flashed him a sleepy smile. "It's really warm."

Ulquiorra nodded, excepting the milk even though he didn't want the warm beverage because he didn't want to go to sleep yet. He still had so much reading to do.

"What do you say," Orihime smirked, taking a tiny bit of the bread and getting a bit of white cream on her nose.

"…" Ulquiorra stared up at her. The woman raised an eyebrow, the smile still on her lips. "Thank you?"

"There you go." Orihime said through a small mouthful. "And you're welcome, Ulqui."

She giggled all the way back to her room, closing her door quietly behind her.

Ulquiorra sighed when she was gone, and pulled his book back from under the pillow. The pink cover seemed to tease him with it pinkness.

He found his place quickly and continued reading.

_**Lesson 6: Compliment Them**_

M!M!

Orihime wasn't usually very big on exercise, but ever since she talked with Mine about her morning jogs with Grimmjow, Orihime was interested in keeping her shape, even though Mine promised the girl that she had nothing to worry about.

So that morning Orihime made sure to wake up early – early enough to see Ulquiorra still passed out on his couch/bed – and jog all around Karakura town. She had even spotted Grimmjow and Mine on their run, even though the odd pair looked as though they were having a deadly sprinting race where in the end Mine jumped on the blue haired male, thus causing him to fall ungracefully to the ground and giving Mine the victory.

It looked like fun, but Orihime would rather not barge in on their "couples" time.

By the time she got back to her apartment, the girl was sweaty, her hair slightly frizzy from the early morning humidity, and her face was flushed.

She walked into her apartment, waking Ulquiorra in the process, who was still tired from reading all night.

The lesson from that night droned through his mind. His first instinct was to compliment the woman, but as soon as he saw her…

Orihime was dressed in a baggy gray shirt that had holes in it. Her running sweatpants did nothing to highlight the woman's nice legs. And her face looked rather pale and sickly in contrast to the bright speckles of pink color that broke over her face like a rash rather then a sensual blush. And the sweat… and… the odor.

Orihime was human. So after a couple of miles jogging, she didn't look very attractive.

Ulquiorra scanned the woman intensely as she drained a bottle of water, and then another.

He saw nothing of standardized beauty or radiance. The only thing radiant about her was the glowing affect the sweat was giving her, but…

"Onna," he grumbled, the affects of sleep were still heavy in his voice. "Your shoes look good."

It was true: the new running shoes the woman had purchased were very handsome, high quality shoes.

Orihime smiled, truly touched by his comment. "Thank you, Ulqui." She giggled. "I like your bed head."

What? Bed head?

Ulquiorra reached up to touch his head and found that a few locks of black hair were sticking up. When Orihime left to her room to get a change of clothes for her shower, Ulquiorra quickly dashed into the bathroom to see if his suspicions were true.

Yeah, they were. Ulquiorra's hair looked like a crows' nest, all messy and tangled.

It had never been that bad, so Ulquiorra was shocked. Embarrassed, even. Damn these human emotions! The woman must have been rubbing off on him.

He walked out of the bathroom immediately, running his fingers through the hair to try and set it back to its original look.

Was Lesson 6 a failure?

Well, for his sake, let's say that it was a success.

**This chapter was almost too easy. I feel like I didn't try hard enough for this chapter. Oh well. I needed a chapter 6, so… I hope you all liked this chapter. Review if you did or have anything to ask or say :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach

**Lesson 7: Figure Out The Relationship**

_It is important to understand how you feel about each other. You already have figured out your own feelings, but what about them? Remember Lesson 5? This is where the mutual friends trick comes into play. Your friends that you share with your love will now tell you everything you need to know. However, if Lesson 5 wasn't a success, that is perfectly fine. There are many hints that your love will give to show you his/her true feelings. _

_Keep this list of hints in mind as you interact with your love. _

1: He or she invites you to spend time with them

Ulquiorra forced down the last bite of Orihime's cooking. It was days like that one where he missed the taste of hollows, but to avoid hurting the woman's feelings, he made sure to eat everything given to him. Besides, if he wanted to eat food that didn't make him feel faint, he could always learn how to cook for himself.

Orihime came back from the kitchen to take Ulquiorra's plate to the sink. "Hey, Ulqui," she said over her shoulder. "Mine asked me if I wanted to hang out with her today. Would you like to come with me?"

Ulquiorra, who had memorized the list of hints from Lesson 7, jumped on the opportunity.

"I would," he answered her.

Orihime was a little surprised by his answer, being that she hadn't expected a 'yes', though she_ did_ want Ulquiorra to spend the day with her. After the dishes were cleaned and put away, the roommates got dressed and left the apartment.

"I wonder if Grimmjow will be there," Orihime wondered aloud while Ulquiorra reflexively scowled at the name of the blue haired man.

"If you are curious you should ask her." Ulquiorra told the redhead. "You have a… cell phone, that you can use to contact her."

Orihime nodded, taking out her baby blue cell phone. "Oh, by the way Ulqui," she said as she texted Mine. "We should go get you a phone soon, too."

"Why would I need a phone?" Ulquiorra asked.

"So I can call and text you," Orihime told him with a smile.

Ulquiorra remembered hint number 2.

2: He or she asks to call you

"Alright. When should we get the phone?" Ulquiorra asked. Deep down inside he was getting very excited by the turn of events. If things kept going the way they were, he could be safe to assume that their feelings were mutual.

The girl squealed, overjoyed by the man's attitude. She too was excited by this turn of events.

They reached an apartment complex that looked less rundown than Orihime's, but much smaller. Orihime went up to one of the doors and knocked.

They heard the scuffling of feet before Mine opened the door. The girl greeted Orihime warmly, not paying much attention to Ulquiorra, though, and let her guests in.

Mine's apartment was on the small side, but still immaculate and cozy.

"Thanks for coming," Mine said as she served Orihime and Ulqiuorra warm tea. They went to Mine's living room to drink.

"Thanks for having us," Orihime said around her cup. "Where's Grimmjow?"

"He's working right now."

"Working?" Orihime raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. About a month after he came here, you know, after he adapted to life as a human, I helped him get a job. He works at a boxing dojo as a trainer. I think it's a good outlet for him."

"That seems…" Orihime cringed, remembering all the nasty hits Ichigo took from the Sexta. "Fitting."

"Yeah," Mine smirked. "He's even picked up a thing or two while working there." She turned to Ulquiorra. "I bet he could beat you in a match."

Ulquiorra doubted it.

"Don't look down on Ulqui," Orihime told her friend. "He's really strong, too."

3: He or she will defend you

Ulquiorra tried not to smile.

"I know," Mine grinned. "Orihime, can you help me with the snacks?"

"Sure," she got up from the table, leaving Ulquiorra alone.

"I made a bunch of little cakes last night, I just need to decorate them." Mine said, taking a tupperware full of small cakes from her fridge.

"Do whatever you want," Mine said as she began to decorate the first cake with a little blue kitten.

Orihime thought about it for a while before decorating her cake with a picture of her hair clips.

"That's cute," Mine said, holding up her own cake. "This is of the cat I got Grimmjow for his birthday. He's around here somewhere."

"What's the cat's name?"

"Desgarrón. I don't know what it means but I think it has to do something with the fact that when we first got him he clawed Grimmjow pretty badly." Mine chuckled. "But they're the best of buddies now."

"Maybe I should get Ulqui a cat," Orihime said as she decorated another cake with a little black cat with bat wings.

"Why does it have little wings?" Mine asked. "Not that it isn't cute."

"Because Ulqui's resurrección form had wings like a bat."

"Really?" Mine asked as she made a strawberry with a smiley face.

Orihime looked at her friend's creation and smiled, taking orange frosting and brown chocolate chips from the pile of decorations.

"What are you making?" Mine asked.

"I'm making Ichigo."

"Ichigo?"

"A really good friend."

"Oooooh! Tell me about him."

"Well… um… he's really nice, and he's hilarious!"

"He doesn't look very funny, from what your decoration tells me. He's frowning."

"That what makes him so funny!"

"Isn't Ichigo the guy Grimmjow fought?"

"Um, yes. He fought Grimmjow to save me."

"Where is he now?"

"He went to a college away from here for sports."

"Do you miss him?"

"I miss all my friends. But, honestly, I do really miss him."

"Do you like him?"

"…"

"Come on, you can tell me."

"…I…"

Ulquiorra listened, his hands balled into fists, as he sat taut in his chair.

"I do… I like Ichigo a lot."

Ulquiorra stood from the table, his feet moving for him while his mind remained a tangled, angry mess.

Why was he acting this way? Why did that something inside him hurt so much when he heard Orihime say those words?

"_I do… I like Ichigo a lot."_

It wasn't as though the ex-espada was deeply in love with the girl….

Ulquiorra walked out of the apartment, his hands going to his pockets.

He thought about that. Lesson 7: Figure Out the Relationship had explained to him that there were many signs to tell whether or not someone liked him. As well as those hints, there were also the hints to tell if they only saw you as a friend.

_Hint number one: If they talk about other people they like, they probably do not have romantic feeling for you._

"_I do… I like Ichigo a lot."_

He walked home by himself, those words ringing on and on in his brain. Painfully. Repetitively.

M!M!

"Mine…" Orihime murmured as she drew a big red heart on one of the cakes.

"Yeah?"

"Even though I like Ichigo… I don't love him." Orihime blushed, her hands pausing over the cake.

"I kinda thought that." Mine chuckled. "Is there someone you _do_ love?"

"I don't know," Orihime shrugged. "But if I were to fall in love, it would be with someone who could change my life."

"I know what you mean. Grimmjow sure did change my life. For the better, too. That's why I love him so much. He changed me, life, everything." She shook her head. "It's crazy how much love can change us."

"Yeah… change." Orihime smiled, decorating the heart with something more…

ウルキオラ

**Poor Ulqui. I'm horrible! By the way, are any of you watching the Olympics? I am! If this chapter seemed awkward at any time it's because I was watching the Olympics for gymnastics and the women's cycling while writing this. Read on and review! Thank you. **

**P.S.: I was REALLY tempted to make Grimmjow's job be as an Abercrombie and Fitch model, but I didn't think Grimmjow would find the humor in that ;) **


	14. Chapter 14

**This chapter was going to be really depressing – then I read the newest reviews and I decided to try and make this chapter nice and fuzzy, somehow. Ulquihime7980: **I don't know about what Ulquiorra will do for work. It's not that I think he's incapable, I just think that he isn't humble enough for a job… yet. And to answer your question about if Orihime will tell Ulqui that she doesn't love Ichigo?... you'll see on day ;)

**Guest: **Yes, Ulquiorra _is_ a fool. Thanks for catching that :). Keep on cheering him on!

**SS:** yes, its too bad Ulqui didn't see what was on the cake, huh. And thanks for the comment.

**Ugnyte: **you will get more! Here you go!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach

Orihime grinned nervously as she placed the cake with the heart on it on a tiny plate and brought it to where Ulquiorra was. At first she was confused by his absence. His chair was pulled back from the table, as though he'd abruptly stood and left it there. The table looked lonely with no one there.

Something wasn't right.

Orihime walked around the apartment, calling Ulquiorra's name quietly. It was a small apartment, and she could be heard from any one area. Mine came out of the kitchen to help her look for Ulquiorra, but there wasn't much to search through.

Ulquiorra wasn't in the apartment. That much was obvious. But where and why he left so suddenly was still a mystery.

Orihime took the cake she'd made for Ulqiuorra, and another for herself. Saying goodbye to Mine and promising to see her again soon, the woman took off hurriedly, wishing that she had some way to contact Ulquiorra.

She called her apartment, just in case he was there and could pick up. She waited as the phone on the other line rang and rang and rang until it stopped and her own, familiar voice told her to leave a message.

Orihime hung up before the beep and buried her phone in her pocket. It had become chilly over the time that she was at Mine's house. The weather was another sign that fall was coming soon. She wondered if she'd get to see the snow that year.

She made it home as quickly as she could, setting the cakes on display in her kitchen before calling out the former espada's name.

He didn't call back.

Orihime searched and searched her apartment until every dusty corner and dark closet had been searched.

Ulquiorra Cifer was gone.

It was scary not to see him. He had no material possessions to link back to himself, other than a few outfits that could pass for her brother's old clothes. The couch where he slept each night didn't show signs of him being there. The pillows were straightened and the covers he used were stored neatly away again.

It was as if he'd never been resurrected by her. It was as if she was alone again, the remnants of her past composed of pictures framed behind glass and her memories that could so easily pass for feverish dreams.

Orihime was overwhelmed by her fear of loneliness and solitude. She wondered what it was like for Ulquiorra. Did he feel this way? Was he shut inside of himself in a dark and lonely place? That was nihilism, after all.

She was going to look for him, she decided, going to the couch were Ulquiorra rested each night. She sat down heavily, thinking of how and where she would find him.

As she sat a certain something made sitting on that one particular cushion slightly uncomfortable.

Sidetracked, she reached under the couch cushion and pulled out a peculiarly _pink_ book.

From the title she guessed that it was a book on how to fall in love, or get someone to fall in love with you. The book intrigued and confused Orihime, because she would have never guessed that _that_ type of book would be in her house. She never bought it nor did she receive it from a friend.

Was it Ulquiorra's? No that was impossible. What would Ulquiorra need with a love manual book?

… Unless he liked someone.

It was a familiar feeling that now coursed through the girl at a speed that made all sign of practicality and reason retreat.

Jealousy. Fear. Anger. Confusion. Curiosity.

Who could he love? When did he meet her? Why didn't he tell me? Why am I so upset about this?

Orihime opened up the book, looking for clues. To her good fortune, the book was marked at Chapter 8.

**Lesson 8: Ask Them Out**

"Is that what he's doing?" Orihime asked herself as she bent herself over the book, her silver eyes intent on the words. She read furiously and quickly, the smoke coming out of her ears as the wheels in her brain turned.

In the onna's mind, she could already see her Ulqui smiling down at some random girl who could never understand nor love him right.

Orihime, to protect and care for her Ulqui, would go rescue him from the evil clutches of whatever vixen sorceress was after the heart that belonged to her.

M!M!

Actually, Ulquiorra _did_ go home.

He just didn't stay there.

Ulquiorra, after hearing those unforgivable words leave the onna's mouth, couldn't bring himself to face her just yet.

He was hurt and embarrassed, and all he could do was run.

He found himself in a small park. It was late in the day so there weren't too many people around, which was good because he was finding it increasingly difficult rather than easier to put up with the confused and sometimes frightened stares when people saw him. Know he understood how Yammy felt.

He really didn't understand humans.

And apparently he hadn't understood Orihime, either.

"Why do you look so depressed?" a familiar, and squeaky voice chimed. Ulquiorra turned around once again to see a familiar pink haired girl with a box of books at her feet and some in her hands. The friendly pink covers of the books reminded him of his failed mission.

"It was your book," Ulquiorra decided to tell her honestly. "It didn't work."

The girl looked absolutely appalled. Her fake lashed touched her eyebrows and her pink lips opened to make a wide O.

"How so?" she squeaked. "Has your relationship not changed? Have you two not come closer yet?"

"No, we haven't." Ulquiorra told her coldly, making the woman flinch. "She loves someone else."

The writer pouted. "Well, that really isn't my books fault, but I understand that you're love wasn't a success. I am truly sorry, valued customer."

Ulquiorra sighed, looking at the woman's box of books. He didn't know for certain, but it sure did look like the number of books was the same as when he'd last seen her.

Was he her only customer?

"But you have changed, I think." She told him as she gave Ulquiorra a profound look. "I know I don't know you well, but you seem different. Your speech before was very strange, but now you sound less formal, and you feel more…" the girl smiled, finding the word. "You feel more human."

The last time someone had told him he was becoming more of anything, he'd released his zanpakuto and brought hell down upon one substitute shinigami's head. This time he was almost glad to hear that.

"Ulquiorra!"

Ulquiorra and the writer looked away from each other to see Orihime running up to them. The redhead's eyes were misty and her face was flushed.

"Why did you go?" She asked, grabbing Ulquiorra's hands in her own. "I was looking everywhere for you!"

Ulquiorra still wasn't quite ready to face the woman, but he made an effort to keep his head up.

"You didn't have to look for me, Onna. I'm not a child." Ulquiorra told her.

"I know, but-" Orihime glanced at the pink-haired girl who was watching them with interest. "W-who's this, Ulqui?" she asked, grabbing on to Ulquiorra's arm.

"Nobody important." He told her emotionlessly while the author faked being hurt.

"Oh, how _could_ you, Ulqui," the pink girl whined, copying Orihime's nickname for the ex-espada.

"Who is she?" Orihime asked again, looking from Ulquiorra who didn't want to be there, to the smirking pink haired girl who was enjoying this too much.

"No, don't tell," the author said with a dramatic sweep of her hand across her forehead. "We are through, Ulqui!"

With that the pink haired author gathered up her things and turned back to Ulquiorra, giving him a little wink.

"Good luck," she said before twirling away.

Ulquiorra watched the strange pink haired girl go.

Was everyone crazy in Karakura town?

"To answer your question," Ulquiorra told Orihime. "She really is no one I know." He gazed down at Orihime,

"Okay, then answer my other question," Orihime told him. "Why did you leave Mine's? I was worried about you."

Ulquiorra didn't like to lie to the girl, but he couldn't very well tell her that he'd left after hearing her confess about Ichigo. What she said still rang painfully through his mind, making it hard for the ex-espada to look at Orihime.

"Fine," Orihime sighed, digging for something in her jacket pocket. "Don't tell me." She pulled out something small and silvery that reminded Ulquiorra of her eyes.

The shape was familiar, but Ulquiorra had never owned one himself.

A cell phone.

Orihime pressed the device in Ulquiorra's hand, smiling wryly up at the man.

"I would like it very much if you kept this on you all the time, Ulquiorra. It's a cell phone, and my number and the house number are the only contacts you have right now. If we ever need to get in touch…" Orihime smiled wholeheartedly. "We will both be just a call away."

Ulqiuorra gazed down at the little device in his white hands. It fit snuggly in his grasp.

"What do you say?" Orihime asked coyly, a smirk on her face to replace the stressed out look that had taken over her usually cheerful face.

Ulquiorra looked away, a small, half smile placed right under his nose. He hoped she didn't see it, not yet, at least.

He would wait to show the her how she could make him smile.

"Thank you, Onna."

"You are very, very welcome, Ulqui." She giggled, wrapping her arms around one of Ulquiorra's again. "Shall we go home? There's a little cake I decorated with your name on it!"

"I don't like sweets, Onna."

"Too bad! I worked hard on it so you're going to eat it."

"Fine, Onna. I will eat your cake"

"Ha!"

"What do you say?"

"Huh? Are you making a joke, Ulqui?"

"No. What do you say?"

Orihime chuckled. "Thank you very, very much, Ulqui."

"You're welcome, Onna."

**Yay! In my opinion this was a good chapter. A little fluffy, a little sad, and very nice. How did you guys like this? My cat was my inspiration! He's really cute. **

**BY THE WAY! IMPORTANT! READ THIS!**** – This chapter **_**might**_** be the last one you'll get in a while. I'm going on vacation for a week and a half! I always bring my laptop with me over vacation, and I write stuff on the plane, so I might be able to write a few chapters to make up for my absence and publish them as soon as I get back, but no promises. Usually when I leave the country I do **_**NOTHING**_** but swim and snorkel and take pictures under water and sleep, so… yeah. I'll try to put up another chapter before I leave next week, but I'm going to be vey busy for a while! **

**Thanks a bunch for reading and reviewing. Love ya all!**

**P.S.!**

**I was going to write this chapter sooner, but due to emotional distraught-ness over a movie (Koizora) I was unable to. Despite the emotional distraught-ness, I highly recommend this movie to anyone who is a fan of Japanese drama/romance/tragedy movies. I liked this more than I thought I would, and I had a good cry. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. **


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey everybody! Long time no see. So I wasn't able to write for this fic at all during vacation… sorry for the delay. **

**Ulquihime7980 – **yes, Koizora is good, if you like drama

**Ugnyte – **thanks for your support :)

**SS –** if I hadn't read the reviews chapter 14 would be very melancholy. I like the changes I made, though. Basically Ulquiorra would have gotten sad and would question if everything would be able to work out in the end. I like this happier version better

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach

"So, how'd Ulquiorra like the cake?" Mine asked after Orihime had sat down behind the desk the friends shared. The bell hadn't rung yet, and the last minute stragglers came in from the halls to take their seats.

Orihime took out the books and folders for that class from her bag. There was a smile on her face from the memory.

The girl had cheerfully forced Ulquiorra to sit down and close his eyes before "surprising" him with the cake. She remembered the ex-espada reading his name in kanji on the cake next to the big red heart.

The woman had never seen such a prominent blush on the man.

She giggled. "He said it was too sweet."

Mine frowned, her pride as a baker hurt. "What does he mean, too sweet?"

Orihime consoled her friend, explaining that the man didn't have as creative taste buds as they did.

The teacher called for the class to begin.

Because Orihime Inoue was a studious girl, she forced the memory of her Ulqui aside and took out her notebook and pen.

With sharp and neat kanji, she took notes and listened in on the discussions until class was over. When that time cam, she and Mine decided to leave the school for a quick trip to a frozen yogurt shop.

M!M!

Ulquiorra was in a state of panic. However, if you were to walk in on him at that moment, you wouldn't think so. He wore a blank expression: the epitome of 'calm'.

On the inside was another story.

The pink book of love tips, his bible to learning about the heart and how to further achieve it, was missing.

He never put it anywhere besides under the couch cushions that he slept on. After viciously ripping every cushion from the couch and almost flipping the old thing over in his frustration, Ulquiorra determined that his love guide was gone.

After neatly putting the couch back together, he searched the entire apartment complex. He even dared to search the unknowns of the bathroom, the dusty coat closet, and even the onna's underwear drawer.

Ulquiorra didn't find anything amongst Orihime's private attire except for mild embarrassment and crude drawings of him in a sombrero.

The muses of the onna's mind were a scary thing, he decided as he moved on to other secret corners.

M!M!

Orihime kept looking down at her bag. The look on her face was like that of someone who saw a spider crawling closer and closer to them, but they weren't in a position to do anything about it.

Because Mine was very perceptive, she noticed this.

"What's up?" Mine asked, pausing before bringing the strawberry yogurt to her mouth.

Orihime blindly spooned up a large scope of frozen yogurt and plunged it between her lips. "Nothing's up," she said around the food. As if to get back at her for lying, karma blessed her with a raging brain freeze.

The woman made strangled, gurgling noises for a bit, while Mine looked on blank faced.

"Is it something to do with Ulquiorra?" she asked.

Orihime gripped her head. There was a furrow between her thin brows. "After I left your house I found Ulquiorra talking to some strange woman. And I found this book," Orihime ruffled through her bag and pulled out a very pink copy of "_How to Fall in Love"_.

"_How to Fall in Love_ by Aiko Miesaki." Mine read. "Why did Ulquiorra have this?" Mine asked, grinning.

"I haven't asked him yet…" Orihime set the book down. "Honestly, I'm not sure if I even want to know."

"Why, because he might have feelings for someone?" Mine asked, picking up the book. "He must really like them if he got such a _pink_ thing," she joked with a chuckle.

"That's what I'm afraid of," Orihime blurted out. "I know it's selfish, but I don't want him to be interested in anybody else."

"You're right, that _is_ selfish." Mine told her.

"Yeah…" Orihime looked up at her friend. There was fierce determination in her eyes. "Mine, can I ask you a question?"

"Uh, sure."

"What percent chance is there that Ulquiorra likes me?"

There was an awkward silence between the two. It was probably because Orihime looked about to burst from nervousness, and Mine wanted to tell the truth without hurting Orihime's feelings.

"Um," the other girl procrastinated, giving the book back to her friend. "I'm not really a good judge on these things, but, I'd say there's a 50/50 chance he likes you."

Orihime blanched. "Huh? Really?" she looked down, crestfallen, at the very pink book.

Mine panicked. She didn't know how to handle Orihime when she was sad like that. Then again, Mine had never seen her in love…. Was it love that fueled the usually cheerful girl's actions?  
"Orihime," Mine said slowly, pursing her lips in contemplation. "Do you like Ulquiorra?"

Orihime blushed all the way to her ears. "Um… yeah, of course I like Ulqui. Why wouldn't I?"

_I could think of a couple reasons_, Mine thought spitefully, thinking back to the mans' strange attitude."But do you _love_ him?"

Orihime didn't answer, but that was fine.

"I suggest that you talk to Ulquiorra about the book. It may all turn out to be just this big misunderstanding and he only got the book to read something."

Orihime pouted. "I have books at home."

"You should have a talk with him."

**That's all. It's kinda difficult to get back into a story when you haven't been at it for a while. Please wait for me to get back into the loop. Also, sorry if this chapter was a little dialogue heavy. **

**Thanks for reading and reviewing. See ya next chapter.**


	16. Chapter 16

**My goodness! Before I knew, it was Saturday and I still hadn't finished prewriting out chapter 16! Sorry for being careless like this. **

**Moonblossom15: **thanks for the support :)

**Ugnyte: **I'm glad you think this is awesome. It warms my heart to hear praise for this story!

**Mangascribbler: **I'm glad for your enthusiasm. Also, thanks for saying that part in chapter 9 was funny. I have a weird sense of humor and I'm not always sure if it gets across to people.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach

Finally, the last day of classes for Orihime at her university came. She trudged through her apartment and landed on her couch. The cushions bounced and squeaked under the sudden weight.

She breathed a deep sigh of relief and tilted her head over the back of the couch. Ulquiorra peeked around from the kitchen to see her staring back at him.

He ducked back inside the kitchen and finished pouring himself a glass of water. Belatedly he wondered if the woman would care for something. He almost decided against it, but in the end took her a tall glass of water with ice to cool her down after the commute from the university to the apartment in the summer weather.

The pair's relationship had taken a strange turn as of late. Even though Orihime took the water gratefully and thanked him like she would anyone else, Ulquiorra was hesitant on saying he was welcome back.

Over time Orihime started thinking more and more about her ex-espada/roommate. She even introduced him to the world of texting and text-talk, which Ulquiorra resentfully dived into after Orihime's persistence.

The problem was Ulquiorra. After the pink book's disappearance, he never got it back. He was… embarrassed. There wasn't a doubt in his mine that Orihime was the one who took it. He had been anxiously waiting for her to tell him that she did indeed find the book, but she never hinted to have found it.

Orihime put the now empty glass on the coffee table in front of the couch. "Thanks," she said again. "By the way, I forgot to ask you about what you were doing during my finals week when I was studying."

Ulquiorra thought back to what he did, while Orihime was studying with Mine, vigorously trying to cram last minute. Ulquiorra, to avoid getting in the way of the two, had wandered around until he found Grimmjow by chance one day.

After the former enemies met up Ulquiorra insisted that Grimmjow fill him in on any other "human" things that he needed to know about. That information went anywhere from helpful tips like driving and curfews, and the fact that Ulquiorra would probably have to get some form of identity before he ran into trouble and was seen as an illegal immigrate of sorts. Then the Sexta would get lewd and jokingly run sex-innuendos by Ulquiorra. This stopped however, after Ulquiorra realized what Grimmjow was talking about, and threatened him with his cero.

"I spoke with Grimmjow," Ulquiorra told her, keeping everything sweet and short.

"That's good. I'm glad that you two are getting along better." Orihime said with a smile.

Ulquiorra just nodded. He wouldn't say that they were getting along more, but instead they weren't trying to kill each other. Progress.

"Also," Orihime said quietly. There was a hopeful yet already defeated tone in her voice. "A bunch of people from my class are throwing a party. Would you like to come? Mine and Grimmjow will be there, and everyone's promising it will be fun."

A party… with the onna's friends…. Ulquiorra made a face – mentally – and really thought about it. He recalled _Lesson 8: Ask Them Out_. He wondered if going with Orihime to her party counted.

He assumed it did.

"Fine, Onna," he told her. Orihime's mouth made a perfect O shape. She was pleasantly surprised.

"That's great Ulqui!" she cheered, scooping him up in a bear hug. Ulquiorra froze a little, even though, lately he'd gotten somewhat used to these types of over joyous bear hugs.

"I don't know what type of place we're going to, though," Orihime added, crossing her fingers. "Are you still okay with that?"

_As long as it isn't French food_ Ulquiorra thought. "It's fine."

Orihime squealed again, squeezing her roommate a little more. "This is so great, Ulqui. I'll go get dressed!"

She hopped off the couch, restored with a new burst of pure energy, and skipped to her bedroom.

Ulquiorra watched the restored ball of energy leave before taking the glasses back to the kitchen.

He was honestly anxious about being around a bunch of people from Orihime's class. Still, Ulquiorra was glad that she was so happy. The bad memories like Hueco Mundo and her imprisonment, and even lesser things like the audacious pink book, were memories he wanted to replace with the good memories that she had of him now, so she could continue being happy with him just the way things were.

Ulquiorra hoped that those troubling times wouldn't come back as a reminder of why Orihime should still hate him.

**So, honestly… I cut this chapter in 2 and changed the ending. I have a reason, though, don't worry.**

**I'm still having a hard time recovering from my time off of writing for this story, so if I end up missing an update it isn't because I'm not thinking about the story, it's probably just because the chapter I wrote sucked and I needed to figure out how to fix it – like this one. I reread each chapter I write at least twice to check for things I want to change, and if I don't like what I wrote then I tend to put off fixing it. That's just a problem I'm going to have to fix.**

**Thanks for the wait. Please read on and review. **


	17. Chapter 17

**Start-**

**Keomi: Baka baka baka baka baka baka BAKA!**

**Keomi2: What's wrong**

**Keomi: You forgot someone! BAKA!  
Keomi2: Huh?**

**Keomi: Baka baka baka baka baka baka BAKA!**

**Keomi2: hold on! Who did I forget?**

**Keomi: Kisuke Urahara you baka!**

**Keomi2:… oh… OH! **

**-End**

**Okay, so Kisuke in this story isn't at the shop anymore. To make it easier on myself he went to the soul society. Any other people able to figure out that there are arrancars in Karakura are in the soul society or someplace else, too. Sorry for not thinking that one through. I'm a baka :( **

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach

Surprisingly, having two powerful Arrancars in Karakura wasn't that obvious. Grimmjow and Ulquiorra maintained their spiritual energy well, and nobody but Orihime and Mine knew what they were. Anyone else who saw the strange men probably just thought they were gang members or trendsetters. So when Orihime and Mine walked in the small restaurant where the party took place, their classmates didn't completely overreact.

The party was held in a small restaurant with a western setting. There were booths and multiple round tables with thin metal chairs tucked under. The food displayed on the big menus didn't look too intimidating, either, Orihime saw. So Ulquiorra wouldn't get sick again. :)

Orihime, Ulquiorra, Mine, and Grimmjow sat at a table for 4 and talked mostly amongst themselves, as the others were doing as well.

"I'm so glad we could all meet up like this," Mine told Orihime around her menu.

"Yeah," Orihime agreed. "I just wish I could have made better friends with all my classmates."

"What do you mean?" Mine asked.

The girl thought back to her friends from high school and how they bonded over their adventures. "I just think that to make good friends with someone, you have to go through life or death experiences." Orihime told Mine honestly.

"Well, that's kinda morbid," Mine muttered. "Does that mean we aren't good friends 'Hime?"

Orihime chuckled. "No, no, silly. You're a great friend. And we _were_ in a life or death situation before, remember? When Grimmjow and Ulquiorra were fighting. If you hadn't stopped them, I don't know what would have happened."

Mine blushed. "It was nothing."

The restaurant manager brought out a karaoke machine and set it on a short stage at the front of the restaurant. Orihime and Mine laughed as a pair of their classmates jumped on the opportunity and sang a wonderfully cheesy duet about moving on in life.

"Grimmjow," Mine said as she wrapped an arm around the blue-haired man's neck. "You and Ulquiorra should sing a duet. I dare you."

Grimmjow pulled away from the grinning girl and declined multiple times over.

Orihime giggled at the two and Ulquiorra continued to quietly study the menu.

"See anything good?" Orihime asked, leaning towards her roommate. She saw him eyeing a dish. "I think I made that for you once." Orihime mused.

Ulquiorra turned Orihime's way. "You ha-" Ulquiorra paused when his nose brushed Orihime's cheek. "You have?" He repeated, scooting away from her. Orihime nodded.

"You should get it."

The duet ended and everyone gave a round of applause. Orihime quickly stood up once the two left the stage and grabbed Mine, who looked confused and afraid.

"This should be interesting," Grimmjow smirked as Orihime grabbed Mine in an unmoving grip and stood in front of the karaoke machine.

Ulquiorra set down his menu to watch.

Orihime picked a song and picked up a microphone, holding it between herself and Mine, who was frozen in place and looking like she really didn't want to be there.

The song Orihime chose was _Minna Daisuki _("I love everyone"), which turned out to be delightfully cute and sweet.

While Orihime sang with all her heart, Mine struggled to match her friends enthusiasm and ended up humming the song quietly.

When the song ended everyone applauded the girls, who went back to their seats. Mine buried her face in her menu while Grimmjow laughed at her, and Orihime was bursting with passion.

After their orders were taken, everyone started exchanging numbers and a type of order system was made to choosewho would sing next.

It was in the midst of all the fun that Grimmjow and Ulquiorra noticed something was off.

Ulquiorra glanced at Grimmjow, and vice versa.

"Shinigami," Grimmjow hissed. He glanced over to where Mine was talking with a classmate. "I know that spiritual energy." The ex-espada stood from his chair. Grimmjow's hands were in tight fists, and his spiritual energy sparked in anger.

"Don't, Grimmjow." Ulquiorra said, though the man was as well in a state of panic. Exactly what he didn't want to happen was happening. He knew that, coming to Karakura, were 3 powerful people.

Then Orihime received a text while she was talking with one of her classmates. Ulquiorra watched as the look of surprise spread across the woman's face.

_Ichigo_ her mouth said.

"I'm not waiting here," Grimmjow growled, and he stormed out of the restaurant while everyone else spoke amongst each other, oblivious to the situation at hand.

Orihime ran up to Ulqiuorra. Her eyes flickered from Grimmjow's retreating back, to Ulquiorra.

"Ichigo and-"

"I know your friends are here." Ulquiorra said, standing.

"You wont fight them." Orihime said sharply, which wasn't like her. The woman's silvery gray eyes were serious.

"I wont fight them…" Ulquiorra's words faded. Was she afraid for her friend's safety? Ulquiorra tried to search Orihime's face for an answer, but she turned away.

Orihime blushed and there was tension in her shoulders. "I…" she swallowed. "I don't want the person I love to get hurt again."

Ulquiorra didn't know at first how to feel about those words. But, the one she loved, the one she didn't want to get hurt… surely that special person was Ichigo Kurosaki.

He felt empty inside. But this time that blank nothingness was painful.

By the time Orihime looked back up at Ulquiorra to see how he'd take her words, he had spun around and was walking away.

"Wait," Orihime whispered as she watched him leave. "Wait," he didn't slow down.

Ulquiorra rushed through the restaurant doors and when the door swung closed Orihime's sight of him vanished.

"I… I don't want you to get hurt…"

**Cliffhanger, I know, sorry. Next chapter will be what happens between the guys. **

**Did anyone catch what Orihime said? "Wait" "Wait", as in matte, matte? That means this story is basically at the climax. I might stretch the story out a little bit after the resolution, though.**

**On a side note, do any of you follow the bleach manga? Because I've been reading the newest arc, and I **_**loath**_** what has been happening in the most recent chapters. I am very angry at Tite Kubo now.**

**Thank you for reading and please review with comments and questions and whatever. Thanks again.** **P.S. Minna Daisuki is the second opening song for Shugo Chara and very very cute. I don't own Shugo Chara or their opening songs!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18! WARNING!: Fight scene **

**I talked about the newest arc of Bleach last chapter because I was kinda angry. I really don't like how all of my favorite characters are – SPOILER – dying! I was hoping for stuff to start getting better, but… no.**

**RenjiRules5986:** Thanks for clearing up the kanji/hiragana thing. I was thinking that it might be hiragana, but because I wasn't a hundred percent sure I just put "kanji" because I figure that people would still know what I was talking about anyway :)

**Anyway, on with the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach

"None of this would have happened if you were still dead!" Ichigo shouted. His spiritual pressure was uncontrolled and his hands itched to punch someone. The quiet man before him would be a good candidate.

Ulquiorra sat at Orihime's side. Her face was beyond pale and graying, and even though she hadn't been in the fight she suffered the worst injuries by far.

In the background, like muted noise dulled by a wall, Ulquiorra could just make sense of what Ichigo said. Somewhere, Mine was crying in Grimmjow's arms.

However, Ichigo's words and Mine's broken sobs were just like a droning hum to him.

He stared down in shock at Orihime's still body. Where was her smile or her liveliness? Why was she still crying, even now?

"Shut up Ichigo," Uryuu scowled. He gave Orihime the best first aid treatment he could, but it wouldn't be enough for long. They were waiting on Chad to come back with the car so they could take Orihime to the clinic. "Your complaining wont solve anything."

"I know," Ichigo groaned impatiently. "There's Chad."

Ulquiorra felt the bright warmth of car headlights on his face.

Ichigo then scooped Orihime up in his arms with a sense of urgency in his movements, and the woman was taken from Ulquiorra's sight.

They were gone in the next second, it seemed. Even Grimmjow and Mine had left.

Ulquiorra didn't go with them, though. He was left alone to mourn the memory of when his attack hit the wrong person.

And worse yet, those words she said still echoed through his mind like a shotgun ringing out in silence.

He had suddenly been plunged into the icy waters that were absolute nothingness.

"Orihime…"

_**Ten Minutes Earlier**_

The Espada were elite fighters bent towards a common goal: to kill. They were human enough to have reasons behind their bloodlust, at least.

Grimmjow sought out his prey for a rematch, but Ulquiorra had a new reason.

Ulquiorra, who had never known what love was until recently, wasn't looking for the rival over his onna. His thought process was irrational and childish. Still, the onna made him feel that way, so who was he to deny those feelings.

It had gotten late – the sky was dark and no one occupied the street. The only lights were from the tall, flickering lampposts that shone over the street, where Grimmjow and Ulquiorra walked.

Three bodies of massive spiritual pressure were gaining closer to the two arrancars, and soon enough a car came into view.

Beside Ulquiorra, Grimmjow grinned. The blue haired man ran towards the approaching car, and before it could crash into him, his fist came down on the hood, and the car came to a complete stop.

"Ichigo Kurosaki," Grimmjow said when he saw the redhead through the car window. The three in the car got out leisurely, as if there wasn't a seething ex-espada with his fist still leaving a dent in their car.

"What are arrancars doing in Karakura?" Uryuu spoke first.

"That's what I'd like to know, too." Ichigo's eyes flickered from Grimmjow – who removed his fist from the car hood – to Ulquiorra, who walked calmly towards them.

"I'm here," Grimmjow said as he gathered energy in his hand, "to finish our fight, Kurosaki!"

"That's a pretty long-time grudge you've kept." Ichigo smirked. "Where's your zanpakuto?"

"Don't need one," Grimmjow said as he fired his cero without any warning.

The cero wasn't powerful enough to backfire on the Sexta, so Ichigo, Chad, and Uryuu dodged the cero easily.

The car wheeled backwards from the blast and was burnt, but still intact.

Before the cloudy shroud from the explosion could subside, Uryuu shot out of the cloud cover. A Quincy bow was in his hand.

The first shot was aimed at Grimmjow, which was dodged. The second was aimed at Ulquiorra. He saw the arrow coming at him as if it traveled at the speed of paper floating through the air.

Even though his powers were significantly cut in half, Ulquiorra was still able to catch the flying projectile in one hand, and dispersed the spirit energy.

Chad and Ichigo attacked next. Ulquiorra didn't know exactly how powerful they'd grown since his death, years ago, but as Chad came sprinting towards him with his arm covered in a strange sort of armor, Ulquiorra could tell they'd gotten stronger.

Just like the arrow, Chad's advance was very slow and predictable, so Ulquoirra's eyes trained on Grimmjow and Ichigo.

The fight was done without swords, just fists. Still, it was evident that Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez was the weaker of the two.

It was amazing to see how the espada, whom aspect of death was pure destruction, was so inferior to the shinigami in his human form.

Each punch and blow Ichigo dealt the blue-haired man, the more Grimmjow's attacks faltered and his speed decreased.

Ulquiorra blocked Chad's attack, though the pure power behind the punch was enough to send him skidding away.

A volley of arrows came at him from every direction. Ulquiorra saw the quincy was at a safe distance, firing the spirit arrows from his bow.

This time around, Ulquiorra didn't have a sword or wings to deflect the thousands of arrows coming at him.

He moved quickly, dodging arrow after arrow, but the power he had now would never match up to the power he had at Hueco Mundo.

So how would they win?

Chad attacked again, and that time his punch only seemed to get stronger.

M!M!

Orihime was still numb with confusion and sadness. "Wait," she murmured to no one. Mine was still oblivious to what was happening, but Orihime was too shocked to tell her.

Slowly, she sat down at the table, her head in her hands. Orihime was the only person to sit down, and while everyone had fun, she was in her own secluded world.

Where was he? Why'd he have to go? Did he despise her because she loved him?

"O-Orihime," Mine's voice came close to her ear, jolting Orihime out of her daze. "What happened? And where are Grimmjow and Ulquoirra?"

"They…" Orihime felt tears spill from her eyes. When was the last time she'd cried? "They went off to fight Ichigo, and Uryuu, and Chad."

"Those are your friends, right?" Mine realized. "Come on, we'll go stop them."

Orihime let Mine help her up and together the two girls walked from the restaurant and into the cool night.

"I hope we get there soon enough," Mine said. "Where are they fighting?"

Orihime didn't answer, but she _did_ sense a battle. It was fairly close. She walked down the empty road in the direction of her new and her old friends.

M!M!

Grimmjow finally managed to hit Ichigo – or so he thought. Ichigo's hand clamped onto the Sexta's fist, and brown eyes glared into blue.

"You cant win Grimmjow," Ichigo said. Grimmjow was starting to think the same thing, as well. Ichigo's power had only gotten stronger with each fight he'd fought up until now.

The punches and kicks Grimmjow had managed to overcome the berry with in the past had little to no effect on Ichigo now.

The thought was degrading and humiliating. Ichigo Kurosaki had grown strong enough to best him in his human form.

Here Grimmjow was, once the 6th espada, who couldn't even beat a human…

The anger Grimmjow felt was so very strong. For a split second he felt the sensation of clawing his zanpakuto and releasing it.

His spiritual pressure changed. It fluctuated and grew out of control. Ichigo was swept off his feet as powerful currents of wind mixed with spiritual pressure formed around the Sexta.

Ichigo stood back to watch, waiting for the worst. Even Chad and Uryuu had stopped their assaults on Ulquiorra to see what was happening.

As the spiritual pressure faded, and the gust of wind subsided, a single creature stepped out of the dust.

He had returned to his adjuchas form; an ivory panther with murderous blue eyes.

"What…" Ichigo stuttered. "I-Is that really you, Grimmjow?"

As if answering that question, Grimmjow leapt through the air and jumped on top of Ichigo.

"Ichigo!" Chad and Uryuu said in union. They had almost completely turned their backs to the person they were supposed to be fighting when a brilliant blue cero brought their attention back to Ulquiorra, who waited patiently to get the fight over with so he could destroy Ichigo himself.

"You're not transforming too, are you?" Uryuu scoffed. He got back into the fight instantly, firing round after round of arrows. Chad ran long, waiting for an opening to attack Ulquiorra once Uryuu's arrows stopped.

Ulquiorra saw their plan as soon as they formed it. He decided to take an offensive standpoint from then on.

Ulquiorra ran up to Uryuu – using what was left of his speed as an ex-espada – and grabbed the other's arm.

Uryuu gritted his teeth at the pain, but instead of freezing up, he managed to let a small grin cover his pained features.

"Too predictable," Uryuu spat as Chad punched Ulquiorra from behind.

Ulquiorra managed to move in time to keep from taking the most damaging hit, but the attack sent him flying.

As he fell on his feet, he felt pain rush to his right shoulder blade. His right arm felt numb and it took much more effort than he liked to admit to move it. Regardless, he'd been through worse.

Ulquiorra lifted the injured arm, and gathered his spirit energy into his index finger once again.

His control wasn't as precise as before, but he still aimed and fired the cero.

The fight was slowly moving up the street, and away from the now burnt and forgotten car. Grimmjow in his adjuchas form was just as destructive and fierce as he was before, if not more so now. Each of his attacks were powerful and overwhelming.

Ichigo jumped back away from a swipe aimed at his face. The substitute shinigami was still shocked over Grimmjow's transformation back into an adjuchas.

"Why don't you fight with your sword Ichigo?" Grimmjow growled. He lunged and Ichigo dodged.

"Fine!" Ichigo shouted, but before he could do anything, Chad went flying passed him.

Chad crashed into the asphalt, his clothes and skin burnt.

Ichigo looked from his friend to Ulquiorra, who was dodging Uryuu's attacks while trying to fire cero after cero.

"What's up with this?" Ichigo mumbled. "We were winning just a second a-" Grimmjow pounced at Ichigo, catching the berry off guard.

"Why do you hesitate Kurosaki?" he questioned.

"No reason. Sorry to keep you waiting."

Grimmjow waited while his enemy went from a human to a shinigami. Grimmjow realized fairly quickly that the substitute shinigami's kimono outfit had changed since the last time they fought. And Ichigo's katana was also different from before.

"You've changed, Kurosaki," Grimmjow said. "Does that mean you're stronger now?"

Ichigo didn't answer. Instead, he decided to end the fight once and for all. Over the years, he had gained impossible strength. There was no way he would lose to Grimmjow.

"Getsuga Tenshou!"

M!M!

Orihime stopped as she saw the fight before her. Grimmjow sat on the asphalt, bloody and defeated once again, and Ichigo had his katana pointed threateningly at the blue-haired man.

"_Grimmjow!_" Mine gasped, running over to stop Ichigo.

And there was Uryuu and Ulquiorra and Chad. They fought furiously, but Orihime noticed how Chad's attacks were slower, and his body had been burnt. It was two against one, with her old friends fighting her new one.

Farther away from her, Mine stood in front of Ichigo, pleading for him to spare Grimmjow's life. Orihime saw the resolve on Ichigo's face, and he lowered his sword.

_Good_, Orihime thought, turning back to the fight between Chad, Uryuu and Ulquiorra.

Orihime could see a flicker of pain beneath Ulquiorra's emotionless face. He was hurt.

Before Orihime could think through the frantic thoughts going through her head, she ran towards them. She meant to grab onto Uryuu's arm, and to stop him from attacking Ulquiorra, because she didn't want him to get hurt.

After all, she couldn't bear see the one she loved get injured by her friends.

"Wait! Stop!" Orihime ran up to Uryuu, her hands ready to grab hold of him and make him stop attacking.

But as she reached out, he moved, not knowing that Orihime was right there, where he was.

A brilliant beam of amazing power rushed towards Orihime at a speed almost too fast to imagine.

She was engulfed in the power, and it was so beautiful that for a split second, Orihime forgot to scream out in pain.

She fell to the ground, her limbs numb and her eyes filled with tears. She saw a glimpse of white and black as she fell – Ulquiorra. She wasn't aware that he could make such expressions of confusion and fear.

"Stop," she whispered. A thousand voices shouted her name. The sound of feet rushing towards her. "Because…" Ulquiorra's face loomed over hers. The expression of fear and shock was still there on his face. He said her name quietly. She liked the way it sounded in his voice.

"I love you, Ulqui…"

He called her name again, and Orihime let her eyes close, so that she could fall asleep with that sweet moment lingering through her conscious.

**I thought this chapter would never be written! I will never write a fight chapter for Bleach ever again. All the attacks and terminology are too confusing for me to handle. Also, the thing with Grimmjow turning back into an adjuchas would probably never happen in the manga. I just put it there to spice things up. **

**I'm really sorry for taking so long to post this chapter. I started school and I have sports and with this chapter it was especially difficult to stay motivated. I'm not very proficient when it comes to writing multiple fights, as I learned from frantically trying for 2 weeks to write this chapter. **

**Thanks for waiting. Review and read on and I'll try to have a chapter put out ON TIME for chapter 19.**


	19. Chapter 19

**My oh my, how time flies! Note to self – never write a story with Ichigo in it ever again! I tried to write a ulquixhime story before, and there Ichigo was too mean and Ulquiorra was too nice. Sorry if Ichigo acts differently than in the anime/manga – I'm not good at portraying him. The guy's kinda complex. **

**WARNING!: I'm lazy :)**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach

"There," Orihime said, checking her face in a small hand mirror. Her Soten Kisshun powers reverted back to clips as she inspected her skin for any more burnt areas. The girl smiled cheerfully. She sat with pillows to support her on a little cot in the Kurosaki Clinic. "Good as new," she giggled, giving her friends the victory sign.

Ichigo's eyebrow twitched – he didn't appreciate the girl's positive attitude at the moment. Not with Grimmjow giving him the stink eye behind his back. Ulquiorra still hadn't come around, for good or for bad, no one knew for sure.

Still, the only first thing Orihime asked since she woke after being stabilized by Isshin Kurosai, was "Where is Ulquiorra?"

"Say," Orihime started, looking around her friends who huddled around her bed. Mine was still sniffling. "Where is Ulquiorra? Has he stopped by yet?"

"Would you stop asking that Orihime?" Uryuu asked under his breath. The Quincy had his arm wrapped in ice from where Ulquiorra had tried to break it – again. Chad had patched up some badly scraped skin, and Ichigo had gauze around the slash marks where Grimmjow had clawed him.

Orihime looked around at all of her friends. Her eyes stopping at Mine, who looked like she needed a good warm hug and some chocolate.

"Are you really okay Orihime?" Mine asked, glancing suspiciously at the blue flower clips clipped to Orihime's shirt.

"Yeah," Orihime smiled. Her friend had just seen her powers. They weren't scary like her friends, but they were still incredible.

"We're glad that you're okay, Orihime," Chad spoke up. "But why are there espada in Karakura Town?"

Orihime blew a strand of hair out of her face and puffed out her cheeks. "Are there no other questions you could ask? Grimmjow came from Hueco Mundo."

"And Ulquiorra?"

Orihime pressed her lips together, thinking back to the day she brought him back. She remembered the tiny droplets of sweat that rolled down her cheek as she concentrated. She remembered how his green eyes opened and found hers instantly.

"You can blame me, not him." She said quietly and defiantly. "Now," Orihime swung her legs over the side of the cot and jumped down. She stumbled a little, but caught herself. "I'm going to find Ulquiorra." Then, giving her friends a sweet smile, she said "I'm really glad you're all here, though. Lets meet up again sometime."

M!M!

Orihime sighed, sitting back in her chair. The sun had already risen and started to fall by the time she woke up after the fight. Her body felt renewed, yet exhausted.

The only sound through the house was the gentle buzz of the AC. There was also the faint drone of traffic, and the sounds of children playing from outside.

Orihime let her head roll back and rest against the chair cushion. She was tired. It was a long day. But she probably wouldn't go to sleep before showering.

Letting out a long gust of air, Orihime sat up and went to shower.

Now the house was accompanied by the rapping sound of soft pings of water. Orihime hummed quietly. It was a little tune she sang as she shampooed her hair.

Once the showerhead stopped producing little water drops, Orihime wrapped a towel around her torso and walked barefooted to her room. She changed into her pajamas: long pants and a shirt.

When she went to close her closet doors, something white caught her eye. Smiling, she bent down to pick it up from the corner of her closet.

It was the dress she wore in Hueco Mundo. She remembered fixing it the day she brought back Ulquiorra. The lovely threads no longer had bloodstains and tears in them. She held the dress at an arms length, admiring its shape and the memories.

"Onna."

Orihime dropped her arms and the dress fell to the floor. There was Ulquiorra. He wore the same thing as the day before, and his deep green eyes no longer tried to hide what he felt. He stood in the threshold of Orihime's room, judging her expression.

Slowly, tears began to gather in the girl's eyes. She held out her arms and rushed over to the man. Ulquiorra was shocked as he felt her arms slip under his. Her nails dug into his back.

Tentatively, Ulquiorra raised his hands to return the hug. "I'm sorry Orihime," he told her.

Orihime nodded against his chest. "T-that's okay," she sniffed, pulling away some to look up at the man. "I can't be upset with you… I love you," she said it like a breath of fresh air. Saying the words was exciting for her, and it just felt right.

Ulquiorra's eyes softened a little more, and his lips twitched, slowly forming a smile that only she could see.

**Short chapter, I know. Sorry about this guys, but I didn't want to put too much into this chapter. **

**So, who hates sports injuries? I do! I hope you're all healthy and not injured. Because being injured, even if it's not horribly drastic, is pretty upsetting.**

**Review if you liked this chapter, or if you have anything to say. Your reviews are my fuel! Read on!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20! Okay, so you guys want longer chapters and spell checks. You want to do me a huge favor? Sure you do :) I'm going to reread all the chapters and check for spelling mistakes and errors, but I would really appreciate it if you guys helped me out by telling me which chapters had mistakes in them. I hate errors, so I'm willing to fix them, it will just take some time. **

**Keep on telling me what you guys want for this story, and I'll try to make it happen!**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach

Ichigo stared up at the ceiling of his old room. He felt good to be back in Karakura, with his old friends and old family and old bed. The twins were high school students now, which was something new. His father remained the same, and even drop kicked him for not coming home during the holidays.

Ichigo rolled onto his stomach and buried his face in his pillow.

After Orihime left the clinic, he felt strangely sentimental. He didn't know this new Orihime, who made friends with his enemies.

Ichigo groaned into his pillow. The poor guy was tired.

He came from his university with the intention of reconnecting with his old friends who he hadn't seen in a while. He and Uryuu picked up Chad and they drove Ichigo's car – a gift for getting good grades – to Karakura.

The boys had all been interested in seeing the sweet girl from their high school days.

"Why did this happen?" Ichigo murmured into his pillow. He waited, but there wasn't an answer.

Unannounced to him, the answer to his question lay folded neatly in the back of Orihime Inoue's closet. It sat prettily on top of old shoeboxes and had a certain ascendancy about it.

Orihime sat up straight as a rod when her alarm clock went off. Her arm instinctively shot out to slam down on the frantic little clock.

For whatever reason, after Orihime got her eyes to open, the dress in her closet caught her eye.

An idea came to her and caused a smile to spread across her face. She swept across the room and grabbed the elegant dress from its resting place. Holding it out so she could admire it, she contemplated her idea.

While giggling to herself, she took off her pajamas and changed into the dress. It fit a little tighter than she remembered, and the cold fabric felt strange on her warm skin.

Orihile twirled in the dress and watched it fly out around her. This admiration of the dress was something she hadn't gotten to do when trapped in Hueco Mundo. Orihime ran from her room to the living room, where Ulquiorra sat on the couch, already dressed. He watched the morning news with the volume turned down.

"Ulqui!" Orihime yelled. She jumped over the couch – almost knocking over Ulquiorra – and spun for him.

The rim of the dress slapped the poor ex-espada in the face before the fabric settled down again.

"Good morning, Onna," Ulquiorra said. He scooted over on the couch and Orihime plopped down beside him.

"Do you like my dress?" Orihime asked, smiling ear to ear.

Ulquiorra didn't look at the dress, but instead at the Onna's vibrant face. He did not understand how someone could be so energetic in the morning.

Without realizing it, Ulquiorra was blatantly staring down at Orihime. His eyes were searching, and very quickly a blush spread across Orihime's cheeks.

She wondered what Ulquiorra's expression was. Time seemed to slow for some reason, little by little. And Orihime's heart beat faster and faster…

Remembering belatedly that the onna had asked him a question, he blinked and his hold on her loosened.

"You look fine, Onna. I don't know why you would need any reassurance of that."

Orihime sucked in her cheeks and thanked him. Taking in Ulquiorra's words after a moment of embarrassment and mild confusion, Orihime decided that what he said was a compliment.

"Thanks," Orihime said again, leaning into him. "Mon amour," she murmured in a slightly off French accent.

"Mon amour?" Ulquiorra repeated. He was about to ask Orihime what that meant, but the redhead tackle hugged him before he could get the words out.

"AW!" Orihime squealed. "You said it! You said it!"

Ulquiorra sat frozen as the girl viciously hugged him.

_Is this, _he wondered. _What it is to be loved?"_

M!M!

"Well, this is significantly awkward." Mine muttered as she pushed a shopping cart down a grocery store aisle with Grimmjow at her side.

Uryuu and Chad walked behind them.

"Whatever," Grimmjow muttered. He resisted the urge to turn around and fight the humans. But with Mine there, he had to be on his best behavior. He'd work off his bloodlust at the dojo later – not that the trainers there would be much of a challenge anyway.

M!M!

Orihime spent the whole day dancing around in her dress. She admired the freedom she felt from wearing it, rather than the isolated feeling she got from it when she was in Hueco Mundo.

Ulquiorra just tried to stay out of her way while she went from being an interpretive dancer, to a princess, to an alien, and to some type of winged giraffe bird.

Her antics were amusing, at least, if nothing else.

Finally, Orihime's performance came to an end when her cell phone rang through the apartment, trying to get her attention.

She ran to her bedroom, where her phone laid waiting on its charger.

"Hello," she asked, still a little breathless from her one-woman show.

"Hey, Orihime," the familiar voice of one Ichigo Kurosaki said on the other line. "I was wondering if you wanted to meet up with Chad, Uryuu and I tomorrow?"

Orihime smiled at the idea. She still felt a little bad for brushing off her friends after they helped her, but she had been in a hurry to find her Ulqui.

"Yeah, of course!" Orihime said into the receiver. "Where and what time?" she asked. Walking around her room she listened to Kurosaki tell her where and when to go.

After hanging up, Orihime dove under her mattress and fished around frantically with her hand.

Once her fingers touched something flat and hard, she grinned and pulled a uniquely pink book from in between the mattresses.

She flipped through the pages to almost the very end, where she had it bookmarked with a cut out of Ulquiorra in a bunny suit.

_Lesson 11: Introduce Your Love Interest to Your Friends_

"Thank you Aiko Miesaki!" Orihime whispered as she studied the text on how to introduce your love to your friends.

**Yay! Chapter 20 is finally done. I should celebrate. **

**I didn't have a lot planned for this chapter, because as you all probably realized, this story is basically plot-less and just for fun.**

**For those of you who forgot, Aiko is the name of the pink haired author who gave Ulquiorra the book. And now Orihime has engrossed herself in Aiko's teachings! **

**Read on and Review if you liked this. See ya next chapter! **


	21. Chapter 21

**I am SO sorry for this late chapter. A lot of stuff happened, and then I had an accident with my computer and couldn't get anything to work. I'll try to write as much as I can this week!**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach

It had occurred to Orihime half way through the morning of her big get together with her friends, that she was actually nervous about seeing them.

The night before she'd dreamt of how cruel she was to her friends the night of her accident, and how she only had time for Ulquiorra. The onna felt horrible, anxious, and resentful. So, on an impulse, she did the only thing she could in that situation. She called Mine.

The phone rang for a few anxious seconds before Mine's voice answered pleasantly on the other line.

"Hey Orihime," Mine greeted her friend. "What's up?"

"I'm going to visit my friends today with Ulquiorra, but I'm really nervous." Orihime explained. "I was wondering if you could come with me, for support."

Mine chuckled on the other line. "They're _your_ friends, Orihime. There's nothing to be nervous about."

"I know, but what about how I acted around them the last time we were all together." Orihime bit her fingernail at the memory.

"Don't worry about it 'Hime," Mine reassured her friend. "Look, if you really want me there, I'll go."

"Really? Thank you so much Mine!" Orihime sang into the speaker. "Come by my house and we'll all go together."

"Sure. See you then."

Orihime hung up, reassured and a little relieved about the turn out. She really appreciated having Mine around to depend on. Still, she knew she couldn't always lean on her friend, but it was still good to have extra support.

Taking a deep breath, Orihime went to face the next big obstacle: breakfast with Ulquiorra.

Because her roommate was such a picky eater and didn't seem to enjoy her classic chocolate, onion, grape-jelly omelet with tea breakfast, Orihime either ate his share, or had to give him some random food they had in the kitchen.

However, she needed the ex-espada to be at his best. And the start of a good day was a good breakfast.

Orihime hunched over a recipe book with her eyes narrowed to read the words. The recipe was for pancakes, sweet and simple.

She searched her kitchen for the right utensils, and got at it right as Ulquiorra entered the kitchen. He was already dressed for the day, and had been awake for a while, but had given the onna her space.

"Good morning," Orihime giggled as a drop of pancake mix popped out of her mixing pot and onto her cheek. "I'm making pancakes."

Ulquiorra had never eaten pancakes, but he could only assume that it was some sort of torturous monster disguised as strange looking food.

He sat at the small kitchen table and watched as the onna worked to keep a close eye on her. He made sure she didn't put any strange combination into the mix, such as tobacco sauce and peanut butter.

"When are we leaving, Onna?" Ulquiorra asked as Orihime poured all of the batter precariously into the miniscule pan.

"Around noon. Mine's coming too." Orihime told him. She finally seemed to realize that she wasn't supposed to pour all the batter in at once, but she shrugged it off and let the batter cook.

"Why is she coming?" Ulquoirra asked.

"Why shouldn't she come?" Orihime asked. She sat across from Ulquiorra at the table. "It'll be fun."

Ulquiorra didn't respond.

After Orihime finished the pancakes … or pancake, and served the large fat flap of food in front of Ulquiorra, she cleaned the kitchen and left to shower and get ready, all the while leaving Ulquiorra to gaze at the monstrosity before him. Tentatively, he picked up a fork and cut a small, yet fat, triangle out of the pancake, and moved it slowly towards his mouth.

The scent that rose from the food wasn't bad, and the pancake, though foreign to his eyes, didn't offend him as much as Orihime's other creations.

He took a bite, and chewed slowly and carefully, as if each bite was bringing him towards his last.

… it was good, though.

Ulquiorra relaxed and dived back into the meal with confidence.

Meanwhile, as Ulquiorra ate his first pancake, Orihime ran from her room and into her bathroom. She started the water to let it heat up, waited, and then stripped before hopping in the now hot shower.

"EEEEEEEEEE!" Orihime squealed as the hot water hit her shoulder blades. She stayed frozen under the hot water, until like ice she thawed out and her body relaxed.

In the kitchen, Ulquoirra just finished his meal. The large pancake was surprisingly good. He would have to tell Orihime to make another for him.

Ulquiorra took his dish to the sink and then proceeded on to the living room/ his bedroom.

The TV was already on, but muted. He grabbed for the controller, and at the same moment Orihime dashed from the bathroom with a towel around her body, and into her room.

Her door closed shut with a bang.

Suddenly, Ulquiorra didn't feel like watching TV anymore. He could feel it in the air, _It_ being what happened when Orihime was in one of her moods. One of her moods being when she was energetic mixed with scatterbrained.

Her door opened again she the onna came out wearing her hair up in a ponytail and a long summery dress.

"What do you think?" she asked, twirling for him. Ulquiorra frowned a bit, remembering last chapter when he told her she didn't need to be reassured of what she looked like and how she was beautiful either way.

"W-why are you not saying anything?" Orihime cried. "I'm hideous right?" the girl turned around and sprinted back into her room to try again.

This time she came out in shorts, a white blouse, and her hair down.

"I think this is sophisticated, but still cute. What do you think?"

Due to similar circumstances, Orihime turned around again to go into her room and try, try, try again.

Ulquiorra sighed and waited for the next outfit to be shone to him.

"You are beautiful either way, Orihime," he murmured.

M!M!

Orihime was debating on either the fluffy animal print shirt, or a shirt with monkeys on it. She puzzled as she observed them each.

"I know," she smiled, picking up both shirts by their hangers. "I'll ask Ulquiorra."

She ran to the door and opened it awkwardly with the two hangers in her hands, but-

"You are beautiful either way, Orihime."

His words stopped her. Tears started to form in Orihime's eyes before she knew it, and her heart beat a little faster.

She closed the door quietly and put the animal shirts away. The girl found the summery dress amongst the pile of clothes she's uprooted, and pulled it on. She ran a brush through her long hair and admired it down.

Putting on a nice pair of shoes, she walked from her room and to the living room.

"I'm ready," Orihime said. "Now we just have to wait for Mine, then we'll go."

"That's fine, Onna."

**Short chapter, I know, but I wanted to give you guys SOMETHING!**

**So let me explain what happened with this chapter. **

**First of all, the week, and week after I was supposed to update Matte, Matte! were by far the busiest two weeks of my life. They were then followed by serious writers block, and another busy week! And then I finally wrote something, and then my computer kinda sorta died on me, and erased a lot of stuff I had written :( including this chapter. **

**So I finally sat down and told myself that I would give you guys this chapter.**

**I'm so sorry about this! I started Matte, Matte! in the summer, and now I don't have time to keep up with it. By the way, I might be ending it soon. But not too soon. See ya next chapter, which should be very soon. So many soons!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach

Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez woke to the sound and sight of Mine rummaging through her dresser. He lifted his sleepy head as the girl turned towards him. She was smiling, full of energy.

"Good morning Grimmy," Grimmjow grimaced at the nickname, but didn't say anything opposing it.

"Morning," he sighed as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. When he looked at the clock on their nightstand, the bright, neon letters read: 4:45 AM.

"Guess what we're doing," Mine sang, showing Girmmjow a pair of running shoes and an energy drink.

Grimmjow chuckled at Mine's enthusiasm. She'd been like that ever since Grimmjow offered to run with her way back when. Their runs weren't conventional, though, and they would always turn the nice, relaxing hour of fitness into some sort of sadistic game.

That particular morning, the happy couple decided to go for a stroll of the new construction sites. They passed large machines and remains of houses, the sight of which made Grimmjow itch to try out the machines and demolish something.

"Okay," Mine started with a smile. They had reached a site where a building was made of a crisscrossing frame of metal and wooden planks. "First one to climb all the way to the top and then back down wins!"

Grimmjow sized up the metal skeleton of the building as if it were his opponent, instead of Mine.

"Sure. Sound's easy."

Mine and Grimmjow went into ready position at the bottom of the building, both of them sizing up the building and trying to predetermine certain handholds.

"On your mark," Mine began. Her heart beat a little faster. "Get set." she saw Grimmjow lean forward a little out of the corner of her eye. "GO!"

The two jumped at the building with full force. Mine's hands grabbed the metal frame in the exact place she imagined, and she was able to propel herself up to the next beam.

Still, Grimmjow, who was taller and stronger than her, along with not being human, had already put an embarrassing distance between them.

He moved from beam to beam as agile as a cat climbing a tree from branch to branch. He was fearless, and he didn't make any mistakes.

Driven as well as stricken by him, Mine pushed forward with more determination.

She swung from beam to beam carefully, but with greater speed than before. She made up some of the distance, but she wasn't able to completely close the gap between them.

Once she hauled herself to the top of the building, she saw Grimmjow already there. He looked smugly down at her.

"I thought that I'd wait for you." He told her.

"Oh," Mine mumbled as she tried to hold back her anger at being beaten. "Well…" she walked to the other side of the top of the building and looked down the building. A smile she hid from Grimmjow spread over her face as she thought of something evil. "Oh… oh no," she breathed, placing a frail hand over her head. "The height, I feel… so faint." She spun helplessly towards the edge of the rooftop until there was no longer any space left.

And she fell.

"MINE!" Grimmjow shouted as he watched in pure surprise as his girlfriend fell off the building. He sprinted to the end and dived head first off the building.

It took a lot out of Mine not to scream her head off, but she managed. Through her hair whipping across her vision, she saw Grimmjow propel towards her. His muscular arms encompassed her in seconds, and she felt the warmth of his body as he moved them to a standing position and positioned himself to take in the impact of their fall.

This all happened within seconds, and sooner than later Grimmjow and Mine hit the ground. Luckily for both of them, Grimmjow's arrancar body was still as durable as ever, so he didn't feel any pain from the landing.

Grimmjow lowered Mine to her feet but didn't move away from her. His arms were still wrapped securely around her, and despite not having been physically challenged with their little exertion, Grimmjow was panting hard.

"Mine, are you okay?"

"Maybe. Do you consider it a tie?"

Grimmjow frowned. He finally pulled away from his girlfriend to see that Mine was trying to hold back a smile.

"YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE!" Grimmjow bellowed.

"You still didn't answer my question!" Mine laughed.

And they lived happily ever after.

M!M!

_Later that morning…._

Mine got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her torso. She was still humming a victory tune and laughing the occasional laugh whenever she caught Grimmjow sulking.

She went to her bedroom, and by then had started up a little victory dance.

Her and Grimmjow's cat, Desgarrón, sat on their bed and meowed cheerfully when it saw her.

"Hey Dessy," Mine cooed as she pet the kitten.

A familiar ring tone started up, which unfortunately scared the kitten and Mine as well.

Mine found her phone after frantically looking for it and looked at the number.

Orihime.

"Hey Orihime. What's up?" Mine asked when she answered the call.

"I'm going to visit my friends today with Ulquiorra, but I'm really nervous. I was wondering if you could come with me, for support."

Mine chuckled. "They're your friends, Orihime. There's nothing to be nervous about.

"I know," Orihime admitted on the other line. She sounded reluctant and nervous. "But what about how I acted around them the last time we were all together?"

"Don't worry about it 'Hime," Mine told her. "Look, if you really want me there, I'll go."

After Orihime enthusiastically thanking her, Mine said bye and changed into day clothes. Desgarròn finally came out of hiding and together the kitten and girl went to inform Grimmjow of her plans.

**I miss Grimmjow! He's such a funny and loud character, but I can never think of good situations to put him in. I also missed little Dessy. We never were properly introduced to the little feline, huh? **

**Next chapter, unless I throw in another random chapter, will be the one you probably thought this chap was going to be.**

**ALSO! Thank you so much for all the new reviewers. I love to see fresh as well as old faces. Love ya all :)**

**See ya next chapter! **


	23. Chapter 23

**First of all, I loved how Grimmjow and Mine's cat was forgotten. I have a tendency to write in little details like that and then forget them later. Sorry about that. That's a writers flaw I have.**

**Also, don't worry too much. The… pfft (laughs)… plot of Matte Matte is reaching its resolution, but I am still going to write a bunch of other chapters afterward until the story really meets it's end. **

**BTW: Matte Matte has no plot. **

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach

The day Orihime went to go see her friends was a rainy one. Mine met up with them on schedule, and together they left Orihime's apartment. Ulquiorra and Orihime huddled under Orihime's umbrella and raced through Karakura to get to Kurosaki's where the gathering was being held. Mine ran along side them with her umbrella and raincoat. None of them had expected such bad weather on a day that was supposed to be fun.

Ichigo waited at the front door of his home for the three to arrive. In the house Chad and Uryuu were sitting in the living room and snacking to pass the time.

It might have been the frigid air coming in from outside, but everyone was a little tense that day.

Orihime greeted Ichigo when they finally reached the house. She abandoned Ulquiorra momentarily to hug Ichigo, Chad, and Uryuu, as though nothing had happened between them. Still, she wasn't as bubbly as she used to be, a sign that the awkwardness was still there somewhere.

Mine chuckled when she saw Orihime's actions. "So, Orihime's this bubbly with everyone, huh?"  
"Yeah," Ichigo said. The three joined the onna and her friends in the living room, and sat wherever they could find space.

Ulquiorra, though he wasn't entirely aware of it, was quick to choose a spot next to Orihime. Mine as well sat next to her friend.

And just like that Orihime was pressed between two new features in her life, while forced to stare across from her at the old friends.

"So, how did you all meet?" Mine asked. "You have a pretty tight friendship."

"We met in high school," Chad spoke up.

"After fighting hollows together our friendship started to grow." Orihime explained further.

"Well, I'm glad that wasn't how we became close," Mine joked. Turning to the boys, she said; "I made friends with Orihime after we sat next to each other in class at T University. Pretty boring, I know."

"That's not boring," Ichigo disagreed. "I made new friends at my university that way, too." 

Orihime smiled, glad that her friends seemed to be getting along.

"Well," she started, riding on the momentum of her friends. "I made friends with Ulquiorra after finding him in my closet."

Everyone was silent, and stared in confusion at Orihime. Ulquiorra sighed softly beside the girl who was just then realizing that she really _should_ explain in detail just how she found Ulquiorra.

"Um, well, I wanted to say…" a blush formed over her face, extending from her forehead to her neck. "What I mean is…"

She was interrupted by Mine's laugh, which cut the awkward silence like a knife. Then slowly Ichigo and Uryuu let out a chuckle, then a laugh, and even Chad laughed a bit.

Orihime, still blushing, looked at her group of friends. They still laughed and talked amongst themselves about how great Orihime was.

Ulquiorra glanced at Orihime, who seemed to be desperately trying to control the blush on her face.

He noticed how her hand was balled up by her side. Confidently, and when no one was looking, he took her hand in his.

Orihime gasped softly and turned to Ulquiorra. Her hand relaxed into his and she could no longer hear the sound of her friend's laughter.

"We are off to a good start, don't you think, Onna?"

Orihime was able to smile full-heartedly. His simple words reassured her. "Yeah," she agreed readily.

The couple turned to the laughing bunch, and tempted by their happiness, Orihime belly laughed along with them.

Ulquiorra, still holding on to Orihime's hand, smiled the tiniest hint of a smile.

Somehow, he got the impression that he was accepted by Orihime's friends. Somehow, everything was going to be all right.

**Late chapter again! What's wrong with me? Oh, I know! Life is what's wrong! I hope you guys liked this chapter. It was short, as well as late. But I'll try to add in a little something before the week is over. See ya next chapter! **


	24. Matte Matte Extra!

**Matte Matte Extra! **

**Ulquiorra's First Thanksgiving!**

**Warning: From Ulquiorra's POV!**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach! Or Thanksgiving… wait, can you own Thanksgiving?

An unflattering, pungent smell woke me one morning in the fall. I wasn't particularly quick to go see where the smell was coming from. I already knew that the odor came from the Onna's cooking.

It was peculiar to me, however, to find that Orihime Inoue was up so early. She didn't have classes, nor was it the proper time to make breakfast. Or whatever it was she concocted for us each morning.

It had become a habit for me to wake up early to read my book about love without the Onna seeing it. I must admit, the startling pinkness of the cover was thwarting enough without the prospect of love thrown into the mix.

So, instead of seeing what the Onna was making so early in the morning, I went to the bathroom that we shared and made sure I did not have a "bed-head" as the Onna calls it. Never again would I wish to be caught in that state. It was like being caught in the middle of a battle with your enemy, and not having a sword to attack with.

Luckily my hair had not reverted to its untidy state.

With that out of the way I walked calmly into the hostile environment of confusion and mystery that was Orihime's kitchen.

A strange looking, burnt and blackened, dead bird creature lay on Orihime's counter. I stared at the large thing in disgust.

Orihime stood in the middle of the kitchen with two jars in her hands. One hand held a peanut butter jar. The other held jam.

"Good morning, Ulqui," Orihime said to me without looking up. There was a furrow between her brows. "What do you think, jam or peanut butter?"

I hate to admit it, but I was thoroughly confused by the Onna's question. I briefly recalled the time that she taught me how to make a sandwich with the two ingredients in her hands.

"…Both." I decided.

"Brave, yet inspired!" Orihime bellowed. She then dragged the dead bird creature up and poured the jelly in a secret hole in it, and then scooped out peanut butter from its jar, which she them flicked into the hole as well.

I was very confused.

"There!" Orihime cheered. "Turkey, stuffed!"

So, that burnt, blackened, dead thing was called a Turkey.

"Why is there a turkey here? Is it a type of breakfast item?" I asked.

Orihime giggled, as if what I asked was humorous. "You're really funny Ulquiorra. You always tell the funniest jokes."

"I was not joking, Onna."

"Oh," Orihime raised an eyebrow. "OH! Oh oh oh oh!" Orihime, for some reason, I cannot comprehend why, started jumping up and down. Her silver eyes were wide and trained on me in shock.

"What is it Onna?" I asked. She still hadn't told me why she was making this so called turkey.

"Do you not know that today is Thanksgiving Ulqui?" she asked.

"What is Thanksgiving, Onna?"

"OH! Oh oh oh oh!"

"Onna!"

"Sorry!" Orihime took a deep breath. "Thanksgiving is a day… today, where families come together to eat turkey and be thankful for the things in their lives."

Ulquiorra blinked, not getting it. Of course, he didn't have a family, not one that was alive that he remembered, anyway.

"I know," Orihime chuckled. "It's a strange holiday, but then again it isn't really a Japanese holiday. It's something people in America celebrate. But I like all the holidays, regardless."

"Is your family coming over?" I asked.

"Um…" a tiny hint of a smile lingered on the Onna's face, but there was an apparent awkwardness to her that I picked up and recognized instantly. "I don't have any close family members."

I didn't know what to say, but soon enough a smile was back on Orihime's face. "Anyway, now that you know what Thanksgiving is, we can start the Thanksgiving tradition together."

Once again I was walking blindly into something the Onna purposed. That time, it was her "Thanksgiving tradition."

"Okay Onna," I said. Orihime squealed before dashing to her room and coming back instantly with dark clothing slung over her arm.

She fumbled with the clothes for a moment before holding them up by hangers to reveal a modest, black dress and a shirt and pants outfit.

She also had strange looking hats and shoes along with the outfits she brought.

"These are for you," the Onna smiled, handing me the outfit with a hat and pair of shoes.

I looked questioningly down at the clothes before resentfully taking them. "What do these have to do with Thanksgiving?" I asked.

"They are like what the pilgrims wore!"

"I do not want to wear them."

"But Ulqui!"

"No Onna."

"Ulqui!"

"Onna."

"Ulqui!"

… After arguing for some time, the Onna got me to wear the horrid pilgrim clothes. Orihime wore the dress, too, and danced through the apartment singing impromptu lyrics about Thanksgiving festivities.

The day went by quickly and strangely. At the end, Orihime clapped her hands and announced dinner.

We sat at the couch and each had a plate of turkey.

I looked down suspiciously at the blackened, dead bird, with jam and peanut butter stuffed inside.

Beside me, Orihime readily started eating.

"So good!" Orihime said around a mouthful. She swallowed before turning to me. "What do you think, Ulquiorra?"

I glanced at the turkey. Swallowing, I raised a slice of turkey up to my mouth.

The turkey was stiff and tasted bland. The stuffing tasted strange, and misplaced.

"Well?" Orihime asked, leaning towards me expectedly. Her pilgrim hat slid on her head and bumped mine.

"It's… good," I lied. Orihime's face brightened up, though, and she hugged me as though what I said made her day.

"Thank you Ulquiorra!" she said as she hugged me. "I'm glad I have someone to spend today with."

I remembered her reaction to what I said earlier. There was sadness in what the Onna told me.

"Then I will be sure to be here for you next year," I told her. I said it partially to say I was sorry for making her remember her family issues, but also because I wanted to. Even though I did not enjoy dressing up, it was okay if the Onna was the same way. The strange burned bird creature was not tasteful, but perhaps next year it would be better.

"T-thank you, Ulquiorra," Orihime murmured. She smiled up whole-heartedly at me.

"You're welcome Orihime."

Surprise filled her eyes, and in one second Orihime was away from me and in the kitchen.

"I almost forgot the pumpkin pie!" she explained. A second later she came back to the living room with a large orange colored pie and two forks.

"Another tradition I have is eating all the pumpkin pie I made before Thanksgiving is over."

"Alright." I said, taking the fork she handed to me. I wasn't very eager to taste anymore of her creations, honestly.

"You have the first bite," Orihime said. "I made this from scratch and I really want your opinion."

Cautiously, I cut into the orange colored pie. It was strange, and unlike the pepper, ice cream, fruit pies Orihime often made for dessert.

However, unlike said pepper, ice cream, fruit pies, Orihime's pumpkin pie was the best tasting thing she's ever made. She looked at me anxiously, biting her lip.

"How is it?" she asked.

This time, I got to tell her the truth. "It tastes perfect."

"Really?" Orihime asked. She tasted some for herself skeptically. "Hmmm… I think it would be better with some hot sauce and sardines. Or perhaps some-"

"Onna-"

"Okay! I'll only put the sardines on my slices." She smiled at me. "But I like that you thought the pie was good. Happy Thanksgiving, Ulqui."

"Happy Thanksgiving, Onna."

**Yay! My first Matte Matte extra! I was going to do a Halloween extra but… that was a failure on my part. I hope you guys liked this, even if it's a little bit before thanksgiving. By the way, happy thanksgiving everyone! Obviously I do not know anything about stuffing turkeys. I'm pretty sure you stuff the turkey and then cook them, but how am I supposed to know, right? If anyone stuffs their turkey with peanut butter and jam/jelly, you'd go down in history as being amazing. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you all next chapter.**


	25. Chapter 24

Matte Matte Chapter 24! Yay!

Being the stoic guy he was, Ulquiorra never had an interest in things like birthdays or celebrations, but when they were with his onna, holidays were actually fun. When Orihime asked him, a month or so earlier, about his birthday, Ulquiorra had calmly informed Orihime that his birthday was December 1st. Orihime then went on about how he was a Sagittarius, but that it didn't fit his personality very well.

Ulquiorra forgot telling the onna fairly quickly, so when the first of December came around and a cheerful rendition of Happy Birthday was sung from the forever-enthusiastic Orihime, he was caught of guard and put in a momentary stupor.

"Happy Birthday!" Orihime cheered one last time as Ulquiorra stared/glared up at her from behind his messy, bed-head bangs and sat up on the couch.

"Why did you wake me up with your singing Onna?" Ulquiorra asked in his super cute grumpy morning voice.

Orihime stifled a giggle that tried to rise up. "Because it's your birthday Ulqui! Today you can do whatever you want to do!"

"That is impossible, Onna. One cannot do whatever they wish all in one day."

Orihime rolled her eyes at Ulquiorra's typical Ulquiorra-ness.

"Oh, you know what I mean," she said, reaching for his arms. "Get up," she said, pulling on Ulquiorra's arms. "Get dressed, do something about your bed-head! Today is an adventure."

Ulquiorra's hand went defensively to his head. "Okay, Onna," Ulquiorra said, getting up from the couch.

"Oh," Orihime started. "And could you start calling me Orihime?"

Ulquiorra frowned a little. He remembered his book about love enforcing the use of a nickname; perhaps one should only use the nickname tip when trying to get close to someone.

"Why?" Ulquiorra had to ask.

Orihime blushed a little, and her eyes left his. "Um... Well, because we're girlfriend and boyfriend, right? We're dating, so shouldn't we call each other by our first names?"

Ulquiorra blinked a couple of times, half stunned and half embarrassed.

Ulquiorra had never dated anyone, being an espada. Youthful expressions like dating, or boyfriend and girlfriend weren't particularly new to him, though.

"Then I will call you Orihime from now on," he clarified, already missing the old nickname he had so lovingly concocted for her.

"Yes." Orihime smiled. "Now go get dressed. Be prepared to tell me what you want to do once you're done."

Ulquiorra nodded, but he didn't know what he should ask for.

Even though he was a person with limitless time on his hands, he had nothing to do with it. He was a very content, and honestly simple person naturally, who didn't need much. He was happy simply with spending time with Orihime.

Ulquiorra glared at his bed-head before fixing it for good. Afterwards, he got dressed in his usual black and white attire, and met Orihime in the kitchen, where she had prepared a huge buffet of foods, some of which Ulquiorra was afraid to even look at, and others that looked surprisingly good.

Ulquiorra helped himself to the safer, less deadly concoctions, while Orihime was Orihime, and picked all of the interesting foods.

"Do you like what I made?" Orihime asked endearingly around a mouthful of a chocolate omelet with broccoli and ginger.

"Yes, it is very good," Ulquiorra told her. Orihime did a little dance of joy in her seat.

"So," Orihime said once they'd both finished their meals. "Where are we going?"

"I don't know of any places around here, Orihime." He explained. Orihime pouted a bit.

"Really? There isn't any place?" she inquired. "What about a park? Or a restaurant? Somewhere!"

"There are not many places I like going Onna," Ulquiorra said.

"You mean Orihime." she corrected him. "But this isn't right. Whenever my friends had birthdays we would all have a big celebration and there would be a trip somewhere!" Orihime's eyes got a little misty. "As you girlfriend I should be on top of things like this. I just feel like you've been cheated of all these things that-"

Orihime stopped talking, and stopped worrying as soon as Ulquiorra's lips pressed to hers. Ulquiorra might have never been a boyfriend to someone, or in a relationship, but he knew how to make Orihime's heart flutter with each rare but wonderful kiss they shared.

His lips left hers, carefully. "I only want to spend this day with you Orihime," he told her honestly. As for your cakes, they are too sweet for my liking."

"Okay," Orihime smiled, giving him a quick peck on his lips. "Boy," she chuckled, giving him a sly look. "I didn't know you were such a romantic, Ulquiorra."

"What is a romantic?"

"Not telling you." Orihime laughed. "Wait here," she ordered before running to her room.

Ulquiorra waited until she came back, and in her hands were a neatly wrapped box with a decorative bow on the top.

"Here's your present. Sorry," Orihime blushed. "I don't have enough money saved to get you presents for your birthday and Christmas. So I got you something... That was lost."

Ulquiorra was rightfully confused because he didn't have many things that could get lost.

He opened the gift suspiciously. Underneath the wrapping was a shoebox. He lifted the lid-

"Surprise," Orihime mumbled guiltily.

In the shoebox was Ulquiorra's pink book about love.

"Oh," he said, looking between the book and Orihime. "Thank you," he smiled. "But I don't need this book anymore."

"Good," Orihime grinned, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Happy Birthday Ulquiorra."

"Thank you, Orihime," he said, leaning down so that they could join in a kiss once again.

Fin!

My hand is cramping so bad right now! But I work for you guys! This chapter was written from my phone, so if I have any spellchecks, please don't be too offended! One of you made a great point last chapter- they didn't kiss. I guess I end up writing Orihime and Ulqui like friends instead of boyfriend and girlfriend because both of them seem so innocent to me! I hope that you like the change. Review if you liked this chapter and read on. Happy belated birthday ulqui!


	26. Chapter 25

**To Everyone: Matte, Matte! wont be ending for a while, so please don't worry!**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach

**Hime: hey Ulqui :D**

**Ulqui: Hello Orihime.**

**Hime: where r u?**

**Ulqui: I left to walk around Karakura. I will be back before lunch.**

**Hime: No! No! Come back whenever :)**

**Hime: I'm making tofu chocolate onion bean sandwiches. Do u want one?**

…**..**

**Ulqui: No thank you.**

**Hime: ur missing out!**

Ulquiorra closed his phone and slipped it into his pocket once he was sure their little back and forth cellular conversation was over.

He had taken a detour through a snowy park in Karakura, with relatively no one around. The scenery was simple, but nice, and it was quiet.

Ulquiorra was enjoying the quiet time of December, but he knew that as soon as the winter months ended, Orihime would go back to school and he wouldn't see her as much.

The thought of figuring out how to spend his time during that period without the onna was a little scary, but he'd get through it.

And he could always text her.

Texting had become a strange, sometimes awkward, yet rewarding form of conversation that developed between the two.

It all started when Orihime one night texted his phone from her room, saying how she'd had a nightmare. After that, though they didn't text too often, every once in a while Ulquiorra would get a little message on his phone from Orihime.

For example, the night before, Orihime texted him half way through the night to tell him about a dream she'd had. It was about the two of them fighting some character called ambassador seaweed in an epic game of chess. Orihime was a spicy taco, and Ulquiorra wore a sombrero.

"Oh look, the guy's smiling!" a familiar voice chimed. Ulquiorra stopped walking through the park to see a little bit away there was a petit woman with black hair sitting in the snow with a laptop balanced on her knees.

Ulquiorra didn't immediately recognize her, but after a few awkward seconds he put two and two together.

"It's good to see you, valued customer," greeted Aiko Miesaki, more famously known as the weird woman with pink hair that wrote Ulquiorra's book about love.

"It's good to see you as well," Ulquiorra said honestly. He didn't consider them close friends, but he really appreciated the writer.

"You like my hair? I decided to die it black to match the mood of my newest book." Aiko smiled, proud of herself.

"Is that what you are typing?" Ulquiorra asked.

Aiko nodded enthusiastically. "It's a science fiction romance type of thing. I'm writing about an alien who falls in love with a human and has to confide in a stranger to learn how to woo her."

Ulquiorra might not be human, but he knew the story was weird. Why would an alien fall in love with a human in the first place?

"Weird, I know," Aiko chuckled. "But enough about me," she said. "What's been going on with you? I'm dying to know the status of your relationship with that cute redhead."

"I'm doing fine, and the onna is well." He answered promptly. Ulquiorra felt a twinge of embarrassment from her question.

"But what about your relationship!" Aiko pressed. "Have you kissed yet?"

Apparently there must have been a strange expression on Ulquiorra's face, because it tipped Aiko off.

"Oooh! Good job." Aiko said. "But tell me more," she said, patting the ground next to her, a gesture Ulquiorra learned meant that she wanted him to sit down.

He did so, and Aiko closed her laptop and turned all the way around to face him. The two spent a good half hour of question and answer. Aiko talked as much as Orihime did.

"I'm so glad you two are getting along so well. If only my books would sell – then I'd be connecting hearts all over Japan!" Aiko sighed, but it wasn't a sad sigh. "Hey, give me your phone," she pressed, holding out her hand expectantly.

Ulquiorra was a little reluctant to hand over the phone that Orihime had given to him, but after a brief moment he fished for his phone and placed it in Aiko's hand.

As soon as she got it Aiko flipped open the screen and started pushing buttons quickly. Within 15 seconds Aiko was done and she gave Ulquiorra back his phone.

"There, now I've got your number, and you have mine," she smiled. "It's not every day you get a new friend, right?"

"We're friends?" Ulquiorra asked.

Aiko chuckled. "Sure. I helped you and you helped me. Now, go and spend some time with your girlfriend. I need to get home too."

The friends stood up and dusted the powdery snow from their pants.

"See you around," Aiko said with a smile as she placed her laptop securely in a case and started walking away in the opposite direction of Ulquiorra.

The ex-espada made it home fairly quickly, just in time to try some of Orihime's tofu chocolate onion bean sandwiches.

And then get slightly ill afterword.

**Super short chapter, I know. I have been busy busy busy. I know that isn't a good excuse… :( **

**Next chapter will be better. Happy early x-mas and belated Chanukah and… when is kwanza exactly? any other holidays I should know about?**

**BY THE WAY! The texting bit is a sorta kinda promo for a story I'm going to be writing called "Text Me". It's a Ulquihime fanfic so Ulquihime fans rejoice! **


	27. Chapter 26

**Matte, Matte! Chapter 26!**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach

It was official: Orihime was once again a full time student at T University in Karakura town. She and Mine had met up early the morning of their first day back and got dressed together, laughed together and ate together in Orihime's kitchen. Ulquiorra hid out in the living room, wincing whenever the girls ran through the house to get ready for the new semester.

The poor ex-espada would never understand the appeal of going to a school to spend hours at a time being lectured by arrogant teachers who declared themselves 'smarted than you.' In the end he chucked it up to him being annoyed that he would no longer get to spend all day with Orihime. Even though Ulquiorra didn't express his feelings outright all the time, both Orihime and the ex-espada knew that each other valued their time together.

With the days counting down to Orihime's transition back into college life, the two had frantically – well, Orihime was frantic – tried spend as much time together as possible. That meant after they both settled down to go to sleep they would rest with their phones close in case either one of them had something to say throughout the night. And in the early mornings Ulquiorra joined Orihime for an hour jog through sleepy Karakura. During the day, after they'd showered, they would enjoy a light breakfast prepared by Ulquiorra who instead of throwing things willy-nilly together like the onna, actually read the cookbook Orihime kept in her small library of reading material.

As the two spent more quality time together, and not all of it being run by Orihime's erratic behavior and games, they were able to develop their relationship further.

As Mine and Orihime left for school, the onna cast a look at her secretly sulking roommate/boyfriend and gave him a winning smile that told him she'd see him later and not to be so grumpy.

The door closed absolutely, leaving Ulquiorra alone with only the sounds of the girl's laughter as they walked away from the apartment.

Ulquiorra picked himself up off the couch and went to the kitchen first to clean up any mess the onna and her friend had made.

He nearly rolled his eyes (but Ulqui doesn't roll his eyes) at the sight before him. The cupboards had been left wide open with their contents left in a random mess here and there on the kitchen counter, in the sink… Ulquiorra cleaned up quickly and efficiently, occasionally glancing at the remains of what looked like an omelet gone wrong in a pan on the stove.

Once the kitchen was immaculate he ventured into Orihime's room, not at all surprised to see the clothes strewn around the room. Without knowing it, Ulquiorra had become some kind of housemaid, or house… butler? Do butlers clean?

His hands worked tirelessly until his house was clean again. Something Ulquiorra had realized about himself after living with Orihime was that he hated when the house wasn't clean. Orihime wasn't so anal about it as he was, but she could at least maintain the house. Just not always.

Ulquiorra was about to brave the bathroom when his phone in his pocket buzzed angrily.

Expecting it to be Orihime he flipped it open without a glance at the number.

"Hey valued customer." Aiko's chipper voice said over the phone. Ulquiorra started, effectively caught by surprise.

"Oh, it's you," Ulquiorra said, not knowing how rude that sounded.

Aiko chuckled darkly on the other line. "Ouch. What, I can't call a friend?"

Ulquiorra shook his head. "What do you want?" once again, he didn't know how rude he sounded.

"_Well,_" Aiko started, "I _was_ going to invite you to go for coffee. But with that attitude…" she waited for him to say something. Nothing. "Whatever. Want to go get some coffee? There's this really nice place in the area."

Ulquiorra thought about it for a moment. Coffee. Orihime had told him once that she wasn't a fan. But then again, why would he trust her taste buds to dictate what he did and didn't consume?

"Sure," Ulquiorra answered.

"Alright, then meet me at… wait, let me text you instead." Aiko told him to hang up, and a moment later the directions and name of the coffee place popped up in a text on his phone.

M!M!

"STAY! THOU ART SO BEAUTIFUL!" Orihime's crazy art history teacher shouted. It was the only class Orihime had that wasn't with Mine. But she fit right in with the other students who covered their ears quickly as the teacher belted out some other string of quotes from poets or philosophers or stories –

"MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!" – and the occasional movie reference.

After the teacher calmed down he continued on to give his opening lecture of art and the history of it in a much calmer tone. Orihime was grateful, as were many other students.

That day would be short for Orihime, so she planned to go and see Ulquiorra before running back to the university to pick up Mine from her last class to continue their girl's day.

Orihime smiled when she thought of seeing her Ulqui again. Even though they were an unlikely pair, they connected perfectly. 'Opposites attract' never had better proof than the UlquixHime couple.

Half way through the lecture, where the teacher had spurted out several other quotes and startled the class, Orihime heard the muffled buzz from her phone. She ignored the vibration in her pocket, trying to remain attentive and learn something from her teacher. Plus, she had a suspicion that her loud but informative and entertaining teacher might be the type to throw –

A boy in the row in front of her got a heavy book on art theory thrown at his forehead. Orihime watched as the boy flew back, his phone falling out of his hand.

"A FOOL THINKS HIMSELF TO BE WISE, BUT A WISE MAN KNOWS HIMSELF TO BE A FOOL!"

The whole class stifled giggles, and Orihime took the time to quickly check her phone before becoming the target for a flying projectile from the teacher's desk.

**Ulqui: I do not know if I will be home in time to see you. I have left for coffee.**

Orihime read the text over again carefully, frowning down at her phone because she didn't see why Ulquiorra would go out to get coffee, and also she was a little put off by the thought that her plans to see her boyfriend would be thwarted.

"MISS INOUE!" her teacher shouted. Orihime had just enough time to look up as the teacher's computer mouse hit her forehead

"Ow!" Orihime yelped, grabbing her abused forehead.

"It seems as if A FOOL THINKS _HER_SELF TO BE WISE!"

Orihime apologized demurely, slipping her phone back into her pocket. The class ended soon after that and Orihime – along with the other boy who had been harmed via flying projectile – walked away with her tail between her legs.

M!M!

Ulquiorra looked around the coffee shop with careful observation while Aiko went to go get their coffees. Aiko left her laptop with Ulquiorra. He soon noticed how other people sipped coffee while bending over their computer screens. The whole, dimly lit establishment smelled of coffee beans and leather. The chair Ulquiorra sat in squeaked under him as he shifted in the seat.

Aiko came back with two coffees: one, hers, was straight, black, and the other had a little milk and sugar mixed into it, but only a little because Ulquiorra wasn't big on sweets, but Aiko didn't want to have him try to drink the coffee straight either.

"Well?" Aiko asked, replacing the coffee with her laptop in her hands. She stared at him expectantly as he brought the mug to his lips and sipped experimentally.

The coffee was a little bitter, but it sent waves of warmth through his body.

"It is good," Ulquiorra said, drinking some more.

"Good," Aiko grinned, picking up her own cup again and downing a good mouthful. "So, it's time for me to 'fess up," she admitted. Getting right into it she continued: "I want you to help me out with my story."

Ulquiorra frowned. "Why?" he asked.

"Well, after meeting up with you last time I realized that I sorta kinda started writing your story. Once I ran out of the things that you told me about your relationship I didn't have anymore material."

Ulquiorra frowned a little deeper at the idea of his story being written and published.

"I wouldn't use your name, of course," Aiko assured him quickly. "And besides, the main character is a stallion – wavy blond hair, dark, intimate eyes, fine, gorgeous abs-"

"I understand," Ulquiorra cut her off as she started to drool.

"Not that you aren't attractive in your own way," Aiko added.

Ulquiorra would have rolled his eyes, but Ulqui's don't roll their eyes, now do they.

"So will you help me?" Aiko asked, clasping her petite hands together.

Ulquiorra thought it over briefly, and didn't see anything wrong with the prospect of helping his newfound friend.

"Sure," he said simply. Now that Orihime was going to be at school, he'd have free time. And instead of cleaning up after his roommate, he could spend his time helping a friend.

Aiko squealed a squeal that seemed more fitting for a pink haired woman who wrote about love than a black haired woman writing a 'science fiction romance type of thing'.

"Thank you," she cheered, hugging Ulquiorra tightly before pulling back to open her laptop and find the document with her story on it. "Now, tell me what you'd do in this situation: your love wants you to meet her old friends."

M!M!

Orihime dropped her book bag to the ground as she stumbled into her apartment after having fun with Mine. They had gone to Karaoke where they sang their hearts out, and then to a frozen yogurt shop.

Orihime sighed, looking around her empty apartment anxiously. It was too quiet and lonely for her liking without Ulquiorra there.

"Orihime."

"Eeeeeeeeee!" Orihime froze, turning around stiffly to see Ulquiorra standing in the door behind her.

"Sorry for scaring you Orihime," Ulquiorra apologized as he squeezed around her and close the door.

"Y-y-you didn't scare me," Orihime lied.

"How was your day?" Ulquiorra asked to change the subject.

Orihime took a deep breath and sauntered over to the couch to sit. "Tiring, but fun." She informed him with a sigh. "I had things thrown at me."

Ulquiorra would have been surprised, had it not been the onna. "That's good." He responded.

"Hmm," Orihime shrugged. "What about you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't know you liked coffee."

Ulquiorra shrugged out of his jacket and went to sit down beside Orihime. "I was not aware of my fondness towards it either."

"What made you decide to go?" Orihime asked, pulling her feet up on the couch and turning towards Ulquiorra.

"A friend asked me if I wanted to join her." Ulquiorra said honestly, missing the look of incredulous that momentarily passed over the onna's features.

"W-what friend?" Orihime stuttered. She tried to get rid of the frown that pulled her eyebrows together, but there was something about the honest, calm way Ulquiorra mentioned that he had a friend, who was also a girl, that got to her.

"I think you might have met her before," Ulquiorra murmured, leaning closer to Orihime, who still seemed to be confused.

"But-" she was cut off by his lips pressing gently to hers. Orihime's eyes opened wide before slowly closing. She leaned into the kiss, lifting her arm to wrap around Ulquiorra's shoulders. She felt his hands settle on the small of her back, warming that spot through her shirt.

They pulled apart for a breath, but kept their foreheads pressed carefully together.

"What were we talking about?" Orihime whispered breathlessly.

Instead of answering, Ulquiorra pressed his lips back to hers. Taken away by the sweetness of a kiss shared, Orihime completely forgot about her worries and let her mind – and mouth – be consoled by the one she loved.

**It's weird just how **_**easy**_** it is to write a kissing scene between these two. Still, I can't help but feel weird about having them kiss each other. I know, I'm weird. The quotes were said by, 1: I don't know, honestly, about the 'stay, thou art so beautiful' one, but I know a version of this was said in an anime (that I love) called Ao no Exorcist. Check it out! 2: star wars, duh, and 3: Shakespeare. **

**I'm kinda proud of myself for writing a longer chapter this time around. It was fun.**

**See ya next chapter! Love ya all!**


	28. Chapter 27

**Yay! Matte Matte Chapter 27! Thank you for all the reviews and new followers :) – it makes my day to see the support I get for this story**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach

"Maybe he has a girlfriend," Mine said dryly in her idea of a sarcastic joke in response to what Orihime told her. Apparently Ulquiorra had found a friend when Orihime wasn't around, and the redhead didn't know how to feel about things.

After Orihime and Ulquiorra kissed, making her forget everything she worried about momentarily, she felt that Ulquiorra was trying to cover up a relationship with another person. Orihime didn't understand this, because she thought of herself as a calm and collected individual who would be able to except whatever the ex-espada had to tell her. Apparently, in her mind, Ulquiorra didn't think so.

Orihime grimaced at Mine's poor excuse for a joke and shook her head quickly as if to shake out the possibility that Ulquiorra was cheating on her.

"You're wrong," Orihime told her friend promptly. She glared at her hands, though, wondering if Mine was right.

"I'm just kidding, Hime," Mine said as soon as she realized that her joke hadn't been taken lightly. "Does Ulquiorra _really_ seem like the type to cheat? And why would he? You two are happy together, right?"

Orihime took a deep breath, "We are happy, yeah. And to your other questions I don't know if he would cheat on me." Orihime sighed. "I really love Ulquiorra, and I'm positive that he feels the same way about me."

"Okay," Mine said enthusiastically. "Then what's the problem?"

"I just… I just don't like the idea that he is friends with another girl," Orihime finally admitted. She bit her lip, embarrassed, while Mine laughed.

"I never pinned you as the jealous type, Hime," she teased. "You should meet this girl, then. Size her up. And if you want I could try and get Grimmjow and Ulquiorra to spend more time together, so at least he wont be hanging around some girl."

Orihime smiled a little. "That's a good idea, meeting her, I mean. But I don't think that Ulquiorra and Grimmjow like each other that much."

Mine chuckled. "Yeah. At least they can be in the same vicinity without trying to kill each other."

With that said, the bell for their next class rang and the two girls split ways. Mine was going to her history class, and Orihime was going to the class with the loud, random teacher. She could already feel her eardrums hurting from the random quotes he shot off.

She quickly sent a text to Ulquiorra before entering the class, and muted her phone before slipping it into her bag. Taking a deep breath she entered her classroom.

M!M!

Ulquiorra decided to take a day to explore that cool winter day. The snow was still falling and Orihime had enthusiastically supplied him with a plethora of winter wear.

He braved the cold and left the apartment with his phone in the pocket of his gray winter jacket. He pulled the hood over his head after a while – the snow was becoming a little obnoxious, no matter how pretty it was.

The ex-espada came to the decision a day earlier that he had to find more places in the town where he could go to escape the apartment. He went frequently to the coffee shop Aiko introduced him to, finding himself addicted overnight to the slightly bitter taste of coffee. But that wasn't enough. Especially after people who were also frequents at the shop started to recognize and take an interest in him.

Technically you could call them _his_ people. They were all brooding and generally nice people who care little of what others thought about them and liked the quiet. But they were also nosy – which Ulquiorra kinda is – and Ulquiorra didn't particularly like it when one small, pretty girl, practically hiding behind her coffee mug, kindly yet obviously asked him about his romantic life.

Ulquiorra quickly shut her down by telling her he wasn't interested and fleeing the shop.

Aside from the coffee shop, there was also the park where he found Aiko that one morning, but as the snow piled up children started to be attracted to the wonderful white setting. Unfortunately, a sulking green eyes man sitting outside the hearing range of the children in the snow by himself was an immediate red flag to all the mothers who kept an eye on their kids. After getting a sizable amount of suspicious glares and eventually one woman picked to bravely go and talk to him about his intentions, Ulquiorra decided to leave for fear of being annoyed further by the women and their overprotective nature.

He found another library in Karakura which he was able to enjoy for multiple hours, scoring through books that he hadn't already seen in Orihime's small library at home.

Lastly, he found a small strip of self owned buisnesses that did pretty well without having an overlarge amount of people walking about. He found the walk along that area nice and relaxing.

Well, that was until he came up to one of the stores where heavy spiritual energy wafted precariously.

Ulquiorra looked through the clear windows looking into a dojo where two men were fighting. Or rather, one man was trying his best – and failing – to dodge while the other man was attacking him with only slightly restrained power and gusto.

Ulquiorra sighed. "Grimmjow," he muttered disapprovingly before turning back and walking towards his apartment again.

He would have to find more quiet places later.

Suddenly his phone vibrated in his pocket. Ulquiorra stopped walking and pulled the silver phone from his pocket.

It was a text from Orihime.

**Hime: Hey Ulqui! Can u come to the university around lunch? Don't answer yet please (in class) thanks ;) bye bye!**

Ulquiorra checked the time on the phone before turning in the direction of the university to spend time with Orihime. He was secretly very excited about getting to see her during the day. Though he liked the quiet, he loved his time with the onna.

M!M!

Grimmjow was about to finish the weak little punk who'd tried to beat him when he saw a familiar face pass by the dojo.

"What is he-" he muttered before his opponent took his momentary distraction to punch him in the jaw. Grimmjow growled furiously, turning his full attention back to pounding the poor man.

M!M!

Ulquiorra managed his time so that he would get to Orihime's university exactly at her lunch break. She was waiting for him at the front of the school and together the went back in.

Orihime still brought her own lunches from time to time, so they were going to share her food – that was until Ulquiorra realized that she had packed a pickle ice cream mayonnaise and broccoli sandwich, tomatoes dipped in vanilla, and a box of raisin juice for lunch.

Ulquiorra told her that he'd already eaten.

"So," Orihime said after a few bites of her sandwich. "I wanted to talk to you about your friend."

Ulquiorra sighed quietly. He'd tried to avoid that conversation, because for some reason it bothered the onna and he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable.

"What's her name?" Orihime asked.

"Aiko," he told her promptly.

"Aiko?" Orihime repeated. "Do you mean Aiko Miesaki? The woman who wrote that book?"

Ulquiorra nodded, taking a drink from the water bottle Orihime got for him from a vending machine.

"Hm," Orihime hummed, taking a thoughtful bite out of her lunch that somehow tasted fine to her.

"You do not have to worry about her, Onna," Ulquiorra said, referring back to her old nickname.

Orihime giggled. "I wasn't worrying," she lied.

Ulquiorra raised an eyebrow at the obvious lie, but let it go. "How was your day?" he asked to change the subject.

To answer the question that could have been answered with a "fine" or "good, how about you?" Orihime went on about how her teacher was crazy – but in a good way – and how her class with Mine had gone. Ulquiorra listened, amused, by how erratic and interesting her day had gone. He felt tempted to smile at seeing her genuine smile as she recounted her day so far.

Orihime breather out, placing a hand over her beating heart. "Oh, enough about me, how was your day?"

"It was nice, quiet." Ulquiorra told her.

Orihime giggled. "That's good" she sighed. The bell rang and she pouted, looking down at her half eaten lunch. "I didn't even get to finish." She grumbled.

Ulquiorra stood up, and so did she.

"I will see you later Orihime," Ulquiorra said, leaning in casually to place a chaste kiss on Orihime's lips.

Orihime blushed a little, "See ya Ulqui," she murmured.

They parted ways, Orihime to her class and Ulquiorra to the apartment. He was glad Orihime had relaxed about Aiko, but a sudden thought came to him.

He wondered how she would fair having known that the two of them met up all the time or texted or called each other to discuss parts in Aiko's book.

Ulquiorra sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets.

He walked home by himself and tried to think about other things – like how easy it was for him to lean down and share a sweet kiss with Orihime.

**Yay Ulqui! I decided to add a little Grimmjow in here for flavor. I hope y'all liked this chapter and review and read on! **

**Love you all! Keomi!**


	29. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach

"You liar!" Orihime screamed, tears brimming in her eyes.

Ulquiorra frowned coldly at the woman as she glared at him. "You shouldn't have followed me," he told her. "But now you know."

"H-how can you say it like that? I didn't mean to follow you. I didn't know you were meeting up with…" Orihime shook her head. "With _her_." She whispered, gripping the tops of her arms.

Ulquiorra crossed over to the redhead and placed a ginger hand on her arm. "Orihime…"

"No!" Orihime slapped his hand away. "I… I hate you."

…

Orihime giggled. "And scene! That was great Ulquiorra. Thanks for going over my part with me."

Ulquiorra dropped character. He was a surprisingly good actor for someone so devoid of emotion.

"I still don't understand why you would accept the part," Ulquiorra said as his eyes ventured to the pile of homework the girl had stacked on his bed/couch.

Orihime looked at the mountainous pile and sighed. "Mine is the director, and I decided to support her by auditioning." Orihime chuckled lazily. "I never thought I'd actually get the part."

Ulquiorra went to sit in the spare space left on the couch while Orihime went to get something to drink.

"Oh, shoot," Orihime pouted. She stuck out her lip and crossed her arms, waiting.

"Oh no!" she said, stomping her foot. An expectant eye went over to where Ulquiorra sat reading a book he had checked out from the library earlier that day.

"Oh my god!" she said with a jump. Nothing.

"ULQUIORRA!"

The one called glanced over at the onna. "Yes, Orihime?" he asked innocently.

Orihime pulled on her best smile. "Ulqui, can you pretty please go get some more of that drink I like?"

Ulquiorra blinked, thinking over the pros and cons of leaving the comfort of his home to buy the onna her drink.

"I do not want to," he told her calmly, turning promptly away from the redhead.

Rolling her eyes Orihime stormed about the apartment, first grabbing a coat and slipping into her shoes at the door.

Ulquiorra pulled himself up from the couch and grabbed a bag from the coffee table.

"Orihime, you forgot your bag," he said to the girl as she was leaning down to put on her shoe.

Orihime snatched the bag from Ulquiorra's giving hands and gave him a bittersweet smile.

"Thanks Ulqui."

"You're welcome Onna."

When Orihime left the apartment she couldn't help but laugh at herself, her 'annoyed' look faded. "Who knew Ulquiorra could be so funny?" she murmured.

Luckily there was a convenient store close to Orihime's apartment that sold her drink, so the walk through the snow wasn't very long.

The stores neon lights came into view quickly, and Orihime went straight to the drinks aisle.

"There!" she cheered when her eyes landed on her drink. There was only one left, and it was meant for her.

Orihime grabbed for it cheerfully, but another hand reached for it at the same time. Fingers clashed awkwardly and Orihime took a step back, coming face to face with a petit woman with dark hair.

"Um, sorry," Orihime said with hidden malice in her sweet voice. "But I was here first, I think."

The other woman rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well…" she paused, squinting at the redhead. "H-hey! Are you… you were with Ulquiorra, right?"

Orihime frowned at the mention of her roommate on the other woman's lips.

"Yes… who are you?" she asked, not unkindly.

The woman smiled and bowed politely. "My name is Aiko Miesaki." She introduced herself. "And you are… Orihime? Am I right?"

Orihime nodded, "Yes. And you're the writer."

Aiko nodded eagerly. "So, how's it going with you and Ulqui?"

Orihime grimaced. "Don't call him Ulqui!" she said abruptly. "And we are doing just fine."

Aiko blinked, surprised by the girl's unexpected attitude. "Listen," she said after reading the atmosphere. "Ulquiorra and I are just friends, right? I'd never steal a taken man." She stopped. "Besides, Ulquiorra isn't exactly my type."

Orihime went red. "You… you don't deserve him anyway!"

"You're right!" Aiko said dramatically. "I don't deserve him! I don't even deserve this drink!" Aiko said, plucking the drink up. "So, here," she said giving the drink to Orihime. "Consider it a peace offering."

Orihime took it quickly, spun on her heels and left the amused raven haired girl to look after her.

M!M!

"Did you get your drink?" Ulquiorra asked when Orihime came in.

Silence.

"Orihime?" he asked, turning around right as a snowball went flying and hit him in the face.

The confused ex-espada blinked away the snow from around his eyes and looked up in absolute confusion at the onna, who shed her coat, drink in hand.

"We should go on vacation," she said, going to the kitchen.

Ulquiorra was curious as to why a ball of snow went flying at his face. He supposed that perhaps Orihime could have been upset with him for not getting the beverage for her….

"We should go to the beach," Orihime said, taking a swig from her drink. "That way Matte Matte! can be like all of those animes where the main characters go to the beach."

"Orihime?"

"Or maybe we can have a hot springs episode."

"Orihime?"

"Yes, my dear Ulqui?"

"Why did you throw snow at me just now?"

Orihime sighed and brushed a fly strand of hair from her face. "Because, Ulquiorra. You have a friend besides me who also just so happens to be a girl."

"You mean Aiko?"

"Yes, I met her today and had a little chat." Orihime smiled. "She really is rather nice, though."

Ulquiorra blinked, still very confused. "That's nice."

"Now!" Orihime said abruptly, grinning at Ulquiorra, who had yet to remove the snow from his face. "Hot springs or the beach?"

**yay! I broke the fourth wall! Why? Because I felt like it would make things a little awkward! Yay for awkward! Anyway, sorry for not writing this chapter sooner. Time flew by too quickly for me to recognize that I'd missed an update. **

**Anywho, next chapter is hot springs or the beach. Honestly, I'm thinking the hot springs. Thank you all, read on and review. **


	30. Chapter 29

**Grimmjow came around to say "Hi" in this chapter. Isn't that nice?**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach

"I hate trains," Grimmjow muttered from where he sat slumped in his seat. Mine was next to him, and next to her was Orihime and then Ulquiorra.

"Isn't this your first time on a train, Grimmjow?" Orihime asked with a smile.

"Of course it is," Grimmjow snapped, earning a disapproving look from Mine.

"Why can't you be more like Ulquiorra?" Mine asked, waving a hand towards Ulquiorra who sat quietly in his seat.

Unknown to Mine, Ulquiorra was simply exhausted. He had assumed Orihime's sudden idea to go on vacation was a joke concocted to mess with him. However, Orihime spent hours late into the night talking with Mine and planning everything. Before the sun got the chance to rise Orihime was shaking him awake and told him to pack.

Due to Ulquiorra's moment of confusion and grogginess the whole packing ordeal took way too long, and the poor ex-espada barely got any sleep.

Thus, he was quiet and perfectly behaved only because he was focusing all his energy on not falling asleep. He would _not_ relinquish himself to such a vulnerable position as falling asleep in front of the enemies.

The enemies being Grimmjow – of course, Mine – he still wasn't completely sure of her intentions – and Orihime, even. He was starting to expect her of some sort of malice with the way she had been treating him lately.

In the end, Orihime and Mine had found a place where there was both a hot springs and a beach. The girls were absolutely excited about going on the trip, but the boys were a little more reluctant.

Ulquiorra had been uninformed and confused, but because it was Orihime who asked, he brought himself to say yes.

With Mine and Grimmjow things were a little different.

First, Mine had dropped the news on Grimmjow at a weird time: when he was having one of his love-hate moments with the cat.

Mine walked in on her two kitties in the middle of a fight. The cat was winning.

"Grimmjow," Mine said to get his attention. "You, me, Orihime and the boring one are going on a trip tomorrow." She told him flatly.

Grimmjow looked up at her, and the jealous little fur ball he'd been brawling with reached up and scratched his face as punishment for ignoring it.

"OW!" Grimmjow shouted, lunging for the small feline as it darted away with a triumphant mew.

"Doesn't that sound like fun?" Mine asked.

Grimmjow cupped his injury bemusedly and shrugged. "If it were just us, yeah." He told her honestly before glaring at the cat who taunted him from a distance. "Besides, what would we do about the cat?" See, he does care.

"He's stayed with the neighbors before."

"Hmmm…" Grimmjow grumbled quietly to himself as the little cat curled up around him again.

After gentle persuasion Mine got her way.

Of course.

With a bored and exasperate sigh Grimmjow stood, taking Mine with him.

"Let's go to the drinking car, huh?" he suggested.

Mine rolled her eyes but departed eagerly with him.

Orihime watched the two leave before turning with a perfect smile to Ulquiorra.

"Thanks again for agreeing to come with us, Ulquiorra," Orihime said.

"Uh," Ulquiorra blinked, his eyes trying to open. "What?"

Orihime frowned a little. "I said thank you for agreeing to come, Ulqui." She ran her hand through his hair playfully. "Did you hear me that time?"

Ulquiorra's eyes drooped a little more. The gentle tug of his hair in between the onna's fingers felt good. Really good.

"Ulquiorra?" Orihime asked.

Ulquiorra was finding it very hard to make out the four syllables of his name.

"Are you angry with me?" Orihime paused. "From yesterday?"

Ulquiorra's head nodded forward.

"Y-you know I was just kidding, right?"

His head swayed to one side, then to another.

"Oh! I thought-"

"Hm? Ulquiorra asked when the jolt of his swaying head woke him.

Orihime stared at him with an open mouth, as he stared back at her with a blurring, tired vision.

She giggled.

"Ulqui, are you sleepy?" she asked, lacing her fingers through his hair once again.

"Uh…" Ulquiorra blinked, processing her words. Never had he experienced such fatigue. It was unbecoming of him as someone who had once been the 4th espada. "This humanoid body is very strange, Orihime."

Orihime gently pulled his head next to hers'. The slumped against each other. "Don't worry," Orihime murmured quietly. "I hardly got any sleep either."

And they dozed off together.

M!M!

Grimmjow paused before the bartender to look over his shoulder at Mine who was waiting expectantly for her boyfriend to order, a drink in hand.

"Yes?" she asked, sipping sake pleasantly.

"What was it called again? That drink that-"

"Beer, dear," Mine teased.

"Yeah, I'll have that." Grimmjow said enthusiastically. Ever since he'd arrived in Karakura as a not so normal citizen, he was fascinated with finding a drink stronger than sake.

"How is it?" Mine asked as she watched him down a cup. Tidbit about Grimmjow: he doesn't get intoxicated easily. Mine had already tested his limits.

"Good, I guess," Grimmjow mumbled, not at all effected.

"How about Vodka?" Mine asked, raising an eyebrow.

The bartender looked warily yet excitedly over at the two.

"Vodka," Grimmjow said, liking the way the word sounded on his tongue.

M!M!

"Are you going to be okay?" Orihime asked Mine as they were about to go to their respective rooms.

Mine took Grimmjow from Ulquiorra, buckling a little under the former sexta's weight.

"Maybe," she sighed. "It's my fault for letting him drink that much. You two have fun."

"Alright, we will."

The two couples parted ways.

It was night by the time the train had reached its destination. Once the sun rose they would go to the beach and later to the hot springs. Mine and Orihime had classes soon after, so they wouldn't stay long.

The room Orihime and Ulquiorra got was wide and open and traditional. Two beds lay on either side of the room and bathrobes for the hot springs were folded neatly at the foot of each bed.

"Thank you for not drinking a lot," Orihime said seriously.

"I did not drink at all," Ulquiorra told her, as though to make a point.

"Exactly." Orihime, becoming brave due to a combination of being tired and excited, came close to Ulquiorra and kissed him.

Ulquiorra kissed her back, reassured by the fact that he hadn't been messed with in his sleep. Orihime had explained to him that she threw that snowball at him out of love… yeah, love.

"Tomorrow we'll get to go to the beach and then the hot springs. I can't wait!" Orihime cheered, hugging Ulquiorra tightly.

Ulquiorra was honestly more anxious than excited, but something about Orihime's enthusiasm made him strangely eager and excited too.

"I can not wait either." Ulquiorra said, and then made the mistake of saying: "It'll be nice to spend the day with you, Orihime."

It was rare for Ulquiorra to be so spontaneous and honest in that way, and his few words touched Orihime's heart.

As tears of happiness came to her eyes she glomped the ex-espada, sending them both down, luckily on one of the beds, and into each others' arms.

**Yay! Happy Valentines' Day! I hope to put this up on Valentines' Day :) next chapter will actually be the beach and hot spring thing. I think I'll watch some anime for inspiration. Maybe School Rumble or Fruits Baskets :) Anywho, love y'all! Read on and Review! **


	31. Chapter 30 (a weird chapter)

**Matte Matte chapter 30! Oh my god, 100 reviews! (precedes to Happy Dance) I love you all! So much! I am freezing right now! Oh my god! While our heroes are at the beach I am an Eskimo! Perfect! **

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Bleach, yeah, that should be a given…

It was a warm day at the beach, complete with laughing children, loving lovebirds, and a shiny, clear blue ocean that spread over miles. Orihime seldom got to go to the beach with just a few friends and enjoy the weather, and now she got to go with Ulquiorra, the love of her life.

Too bad Orihime was the only enthusiastic one so early in the morning. She bit her lip in frustration as she saw Ulquiorra still sound asleep. The sun was rising, and so should he!

Taking a deep breath Orihime paced over to Mine and Grimmjow's room, hoping to find the two ready to go.

She knocked on their door quickly and shortly – with a purpose.

"Uuughhughwibble…" a faint groan sounded through the door.

Orihime frowned and tried the doorknob – it was unlocked. She opened the door to a dark room that held two sleeping forms in a hazardous tangle. Mine peered up at Orihime as the light from outside touched her face.

"Uughuwibbleughwabble." She groaned – hung over.

"It's time to go!" Orihime cheered. Internally, she was trying to force back a growing sense of dread.

"Uugnhun!" Grimmjow said from beside Mine. He turned away from the light, as if it burned. "Go… away!" he mumbled.

"Mine!" Orihime said, letting all of her distress fall into the two syllables.

" I… 'm sorry, Hime," she murmured quietly, pulling the thick covers over her head. "jus… just give us an hour. 'kay?"

Orihime frowned, bit her lip, and nodded. "An hour!" she told them before backing out of the dark room. She made sure to lock their door before going back to her own room.

Ulquiorra rolled over as he began to wake, and peered up at Orihime through narrow eyes. "Orihime?" he asked.

"Ulqui!" Orihime said eagerly. The tenor of her voice sent a wave through Ulquiorra, and slowly and instinctually, he drew back into a sleeping position and willed himself back to sleep. Orihime watched incredulously as he went back to sleep. Then the girl sighed and sat in her bed, bemused, and ducked under the covers to sleep a little longer.

M!M!

The tide grew higher and a wave of black water slammed onto the ship, rocking the vessel haphazardly. Ulquiorra held onto the wheel, struggling to keep his grip as the weight of the ancient sea crashed against him.

"Captain Ulquiorra!" Orihime called over the roar of the sea. The fair maiden was clad in a long silvery gown and heels, which made her wobble around. "Will we make it?"

Ulquiorra said nothing, but grabbed one of his crewmembers that was running by and pushed him into the wheel. "Take over, trash." He told the blue haired man, who in turn shouted an irritated "Oi!" at him.

Ulquiorra made his way to Orihime, his eyes on hers. "Lady Inoue."

"Please," she murmured, touching his pale cheek. "Call me Orihime."

"Orihime…" Captain Ulquiorra breathed, right as another wave threatened to end the ships trek across the eastern sea. "Perhaps we will meet again?"

Orihime shook her head, brilliant red curls swaying. "Where? Will we both be alive? I want to stay with you."

"I want to stay with you, too," Ulquiorra told her, taking the small of her back. He remembered the smooth fabric of her dress pulled tight around her torso. "I love you," he declared, pulling her towards him, his eyes on her. Only her.

"I love you Ulquiorra! Forever, however long that might be!"

They came together then, lips pressing desperately, passionately together. The tide had no affect on them, and in that moment they were forever. Alas, it was only a small moment.

"I must go," Ulquiorra told her urgently now. He peered over the side of the ship – a vortex of dark, angry water swelled. He glared at the monster that hid in the deep blue and it roared back up at him.

"Don't go!" Orihime cried, holding onto him.

"I must," Ulquiorra insisted. His eyes told her everything: the monster would not rest until it had _him_. "I love you." He said again, feeling her relax slightly, and he pulled away, hoping that image of him in love would stay with her forever. Then he jumped over the side of the boat, and into the vertex. Orihimes' desperate cries could be heard even then. He hit the icy water. All was black…

…Mine opened her eyes slowly, a little bit perturbed by the uncharacteristic dream she had just dreamt. Grimmjow made a sound of absolute disgruntlement and confusion next to her. She groaned in agreement.

M!M!

So Orihime and Ulquiorra, an hour later, went to the beach, both clad in new swimwear.

"Thanks for getting up, Ulquiorra," Orihime sighed as they went down to the shore to get their toes wet. It was a delightful day, fairly warm, and the sand was nice underfoot.

"Your welcome," Ulquiorra said, slightly distracted, as he pulled at a few strands of hair that had not corrected themselves. He really hated having bed head. He missed his helmet thing :(

"Here," Orihime smiled, replacing Ulquiorra's hand with her own. She ran her hand through his hair gently, and somehow managed to make it lie down. "Now! Let's go swimming!"

Ulquiorra frowned at the idea.

"Oh, come on, Ulquiorra!" Orihime said, pulling the ex-espada towards the deeper water. Ulquiorra's frown only got bigger as the water splashed up to his knees. "Nothing beats a quick swim before breakfast."

Orihime and Ulquiorra splashed ungracefully into deeper water, Ulquiorra pondering what fun there was in basically drowning ones' self, and Orihime giggling quietly at the funny faces Ulquiorra was making.

"I can do a handstand under water," Orihime bragged, feeling proud of herself.

Ulquiorra said nothing, because he wasn't about to ask her what a handstand was. But then Orihime took in a deep breath and ducked under the water. This startled Ulquiorra, more than he'd ever like to admit, but after a few seconds Orihime's feet came kicking at the surface.

Then it was over and a smiling Orihime gasped for air. "Did you see that!" Orihime asked, which was a silly question, because he was right there.

"Can we go now?" Ulquiorra asked, sounding like a peeved child.

Orihime rolled her eyes, and together they waddled out of the water. "No matter," she said, unfazed. "I'll get you back in the water after breakfast."

They met up with Grimmjow and Mine. Mine kept looking away from Ulquiorra, for obvious reasons. Grimmjow kept drinking water, for obvious reasons.

"How was the water?" Mine asked, looking directly at Orihime. And not at Ulquiorra.

"I want to stay with you."

Mine blinked. "What was that?" she asked.

"I said it was nice." Orihime repeated.

"Oh," Mine murmured, "Oh. Uh, I can't believe you two went swimming so early."

"It was Orihime's idea," Ulquiorra spoke up, but now he was dressed like a captain, and the wind blew at his hair.

Orihime giggled. "Yeah," she agreed.

Mine turned to Orihime, confused by Ulquiorra's attire.

"Mine, what's wrong?" Orihime asked, but was it really Orihime? Her hair was curled and she wore a fabulous silver gown. Mine blinked twice, swallowed.

"N-nothing, Lady Orihime…"

Orihime giggled. "Why am I Lady Orihime now?"

"I think there is something wrong with your friend," Ulquiorra said flatly.

"Oi!" Grimmjow snapped when he heard what Ulquiorra had said. Mine turned to Grimmjow. There was a wheel in his hands. They were on a boat. A monster screamed defiantly from within a vortex of water. Mine blinked again.

"Orihime, let's go swimming." Mine suggested, deciding that if she took a little dip in the water she'd come back to reality. So Orihime picked up her skirts and the four of them went down to the beach.

**That was a weird chapter… yeah. This chapter was Mine dreaming about UlquixHime on a boat. Isn't that nice? BTW: sorry this is a bit late – I forgot that I had written this chapter and was putting off writing it… yeah, sorry 'bout that. Next chapter has actual swimming, I think…**


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